Halo:Delta Squad
by 117Jorn
Summary: Four Very Special Spartan III's end up at Reach during the Fall, and they meet up with the chief where they fight on Halo, and uncover a dark secret. Retelling of Halo with added OC's. Some character's fate's may change.
1. Prolog

Halo delta squad

Prolog: Deep Infiltration

June 15th, 2552, 1500 hours, Paris IV, Paris system, New St. Nazaire.

The city was going to hell. Simple as that. A day ago Covenant ships began invading the planet, soon after, they started digging up something under the city.

And that's why we're here at the moment, crouched together inside a half-toppled building. Just the four of us.

My name is Jordan Takeo. Or Jordan D300. Take your pick. I'm a Spartan III. Same as my buddie's here with me. Crouching down looking at a map was a 5'9 18 year old, wearing the prototype "Hayabusa" MJOLNIR armor. Painted primarily woodland green along most of the body, with stripes of brown along the thigh, shoulders, and back. With a Crimson X on the chest.

That was Ryu Hisanaga, Spartan D118. Our squad leader. The guy who could cook up some insane plans, and actually pull them off. Though he likes to be called "Dragon" as a nick-name. Apparently his ancestors were famous warriors from Japan. What are the odds? At the moment, he was armed with a Designated Marksman rifle, or DMR as we call them, a MA37 ICWS assault rifle, a M9G pistol, a Combat knife, and slung on his back was a Katana sword.

"Covenant seems to be guarding that structure up ahead." Ryu said, looking up from the map, and pointing at a white building a few blocks ahead of us. It was one of the few structures that wasn't totally collapsed. And he was right. There were tons of Elites, Grunts, Jackles, you name it, it was there.

"Hell, they even got Hunters!" A feminate voice said, emiting from the 5'5 tall girl wearing a completely black Custom armor. Her helmet was the "Rouge" helmet as it was called, with EVA chest plating. She was currently looking out the window with a Sniper rifle drawn.

Her name was Corrine Leese, Spartan D090. Best damn sniper in the world in our opinion. Quite simply she could kill two Drones with one shot.

"Why are you complaining?" Another, different feminate voice said. "Just more adds to your kill-score." I turned to see a 6'7 woman, wearing K variant Commando-type MJOLNIR armor, painted tan brown.

That was Sarah Lenix, Spartan D100. Though outside combat, she can be shy, but when you put a Rocket launcher in her hands she will cause absolute havoc to anyone who got in our way. She currently had a Rocket launcher slung on her back, and her MA37 drawn out.

"Not complaining, just stating a fact." Corrine said. "But I am complaining about why the hell are we still standing around here?"

I sighed. "We need a plan that _doesn't _involve drawing the whole fucking Covenant armada our way Corrine." I said.

Corrine chuckled. "He's right Corrine." Ryu said. "Right now, our options are limited. If we wanna get out of this city, we need to get on top of the building for the extraction."

"Why is it always the most heavily fortified positions that we need to bust through to get outta hell?" Sarah complained.

"Meet the Spartans, Sarah." I said sarcastically. "Live with it."

"Alright, here's what we'll do." Ryu said, drawing our attention. "Corrine, take up a sniping position wherever you think is best suit for covering us. Sarah, you focus on those Ghosts. Me and Jordan will push though as a distraction."

"Roger." Corrine said as she activated her Active camo and disappeared. "Affirmative." Sarah said as she followed suit.

Ryu packed up the Map, and pulled out his MA37, and his Katana sword. I drew out my two M6G Pistols. Twirling them as I drew them out like I was from a old western movie. "You love doing that, don't you?" Ryu asked me. "Hell ya!" I replied with a smile.

Ryu shook his head as the two of us Jumped out of the building and sprinted towards the covenant defenses.

Ryu fired off his Assault rifle, running and gunning towards a group of Grunts, taking them out quickly while I fired my two pistols at a pair of Elites. The first few shots dropped their shields, while the last of my clips blasted a hole into their heads.

At this time, the Covenant began to fire back. Grunts mounted inside Shade turrets, only to be killed as a pair of cracks from a sniper rifle echoed in the streets.

"That's two more for me!" Corrine said on the radio, just prior to a large explosion as a pair of ghosts were blown up, followed by a third being Hijacked as Sarah kicked the Grunt off of it. "That's three!" Sarah replied.

"You didn't kill the last one, it doesn't count!" Corrine said.

"Whatever!" Sarah said as she charged the Ghost forward ramming it into Hunter as she jumped off, practically flew over the Hunter, drew out her rocket launcher, and fired at the back of the Hunter turning it into a pile of heated meat.

"Eww!" Sarah said as she complained about the Hunter blood on her Armor. "That'll take months to get off!"

"There's still one more Hunter, Sarah!" I shouted. Sure enough, the second hunter brought it's fuel rod cannon out, and fired a blast of green energy at Sarah, but the Spartan quickly activated her Armor lock, and survived. Ryu then Jumped onto the Hunter's back, raised his sword, and stabbed the beast's back. The Hunter roared in pain, which was ended as Ryu jumped, and sliced it's head off. Orange blood erupted from the Hunter like a fountain. "…Ok now that was bad-ass Ryu." I said as I fired off my own MA37 at a Jackal.

"I do my best!" Ryu replied.

As Corrine sniped the Covenant on the ground in a building not to far from the battle zone, she drew out her Pistol, and fired behind her without looking at what appeared like nothingness, only for an elite to appear and fall to the ground dead.

"Motion tracker, Split-face." She muttered as she continued to snipe Elite after elite.

It was just five minutes until the whole first floor of the area was cleared of Covenant forces. "Well, that was fun!" Sarah chimed in as she walked up to them.

"Reasonably fun." Corrine said as she flew in with her Jet pack. "Not enough Elites for my taste."

"Well, at least their weren't any Brute's." Ryu said as he pulled out his Katana that he though into an Elite's heart earlier. He took out a rag and whipped the purple blood off of it.

"Ya know, we really should have a scoring system." I stated out of the blue as we continued up the stairs. "Ya know, like Grunts are worth 1 point, Jackals 5, Elites 10, Hunters 15, Brutes 20-"

"Brute's 20?" Ryu stated. "Dude, a Hunter could easily take on a Brute!"

"You only see two Hunters at a time, though." I replied. "Brutes, however tend to have far more than that, and they have all of those other weapons. Like those Gravity hammers, Grenade launchers, and those new Plasma repeaters."

"But Hunters have Fuel Rod Cannons, _and _those indestructible shields." Ryu replied as he checked a room for any covenant.

"_only _Fuel rod cannons, and those shield." I replied. "they have no way of variety. It's always the same weapons for them. And those shield are not indestructible. A nice Scorpion tank shell goes right through them."

"And how may times do we get to use Scorpions?" Ryu said.

"Doesn't matter, they can still be broken, hence not indestructible." I replied waving my finger around.

"He's got ya there Ryu." Corrine said with a giggle at the end.

As we walked to the top of the building, we found it odd that there were not many covenant inside the building. In a matter of minutes we reached the roof. "Well, that was boring!" Sarah complained.

Ryu then activated the Radio. "This is Delta one to Command, do you read command?" he said. There was a flash of static, "_Command here, Delta. What is it?_" Came the reply.

"Delta here, Reconnaissance mission complete." Ryu said. "Covenant forces are slowly pulling out, and moving into the center of the city. Requesting pick up."

"_Request Approved, Delta._" Command said. "_Pelican Drop ship inbound to your location in 6 minutes._"

"Roger, out." Ryu said. "We got 6 minutes. Guess we have to wait."

"Sir, I've got movement on the Motion tracker!" Corrine informed. "Moving up the building!"

"Delta, take defensive positions!" Ryu barked. "Cover the door!"

I drew out my own DMR, and took cover behind some Crates. Sarah brought out her M246H Heavy Machine Gun, and set it up next to me. Soon, a team of 5 Grunt's ran through the door, and were practically shredded into confetti by Sarah's Machine gun. While Sarah lauphed like a maniac like the Heavy from team fortress 2. "AHAHAHAH!" She screamed. "TASTE THE BURN!"

"Sarah, you scare me sometime." I admitted.

"I know." Sarah admitted as well as she continued mowing the aliens down.

Eventually, Jackals with Energy shields came in with their shields drawn. And even Sarah's barrage of fire couldn't bring them down. "Grenade out!" I shouted as I pulled the pin, and tossed a Frag grenade into the mess. The device detonated, and the Jackal's went flying, most of witch flew right off the building. "Ok that was about 6 Jackals so…" I said counting in my head. "…30 points for me!"

At that moment, a team of 5 Elite Zealot-class warriors with energy swords charged through the door. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Corrine complained as she fired her Sniper rifle at a Elite, only for it to use it's own Armor lock.

"Damnit! Their stealing my tricks!" Sarah complained as she opened up with her machine gun again. I then fired my own DMR, nailing a few shots into a Zealot quickly taking out it's shield. "Quit complaining, and keep shooting!" Corrine shouted as she drew out her Pistol and fired as the Elite's came too close.

Ryu Stabbed a Elite straight into the chest, and then he sliced the Zealot elite in half. Then he ducked missing a swing from another elite's energy sword, and rolled forward. He quickly got back up and faced the Elite.

The alien charged him, and Ryu met the Elite's sword with his own, much to the elite's surprise.

"I'm not your average Human, Split face!" Ryu said as he swang his sword. The elite jumped back, but quickly charged forward again attempting to Stab Ryu, but the Spartan dodged with ease.

The elite swang again, and Ryu's sword got it the way again. "You are a formidable fighter, Human." The elite said in english, to Ryu's surprise. "I'll give you a Honorable death!"

Ryu smiled as he kicked the Elite in the gut. The Elite stepped back, but quickly recovered. But not quick enough as for Ryu stabbed the Elite in the chest. "It seems your getting the Honorable death." He said, as the others finished the remaining Zealot's. "But tell me, who is your commanding officer?"

The elite staired at the Spartan. "Why…do you want…to know?" The elite said, struggling to stay alive. Rui answered by driving the sword in deeper. "Just tell me!" He shouted.

"Kahel…Hanamee…" the Elite said, just before dying. Ryu frowned. _Still not him. _He thought in anger.

The reason he asked the elite was because he _knew _the name of the Covenant leader that slaughtered his family personally. The elite made it very clear he wanted Ryu to know who he was before he killed him. But to that bastard's dismay, a group of Marines saved Ryu before the elite could kill him, be he damn well remembers his name.

_Thel 'Vadamee. _He thought of the name of the elite that killed his family. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, and tuned to face Corrine standing there. "We'll get him John." She said on a private comm link. "We will find the one that killed them."

Ryu smiled, and nodded as the Pelican drop ship came in and the four Spartans of Delta squad boarded the Drop ship.

Once we were all onboard, and the Pelican was well out of Covenant territory on the Planet, we all took of our Helmets. Revealing my short but Shaggy brown hair, and brown eyes, Ryu's short brown hair and his odd eyes (Left: Green with gold flecks Right: Gold with Green Flecks) Corrine's shoulder-length blond hair, and blue eyes, and Sarah's ear-length brown hair, and Brown eyes with gold flecks.

I sighed, and wiped the sweat off of my forehead. "Would it kill O.N.I to give us some Air conditioning in our armor?" I asked, half-serious, half-sarcastic. Ryu chuckled slightly. "I've requested it, but so far, nothing yet." He said.

"Sarah, you alright?" I asked, looking at the brunette. "That was a pretty close call with that fuel-rod cannon." Sarah smiled. "I'm fine Jordan, don't worry." She replied.

"Isn't it sweet how Jordan looks after her Girlfriend?" Corrine said. Causing me and Sarah to both blush. "Corrine, don't embarrass the kids." Ryu said jokingly.

Though, Corrine wasn't that far off. Sure, I do like Sarah…but I don't really know if she likes me that same way (Little to Jordan's Knowledge, Sarah _does _like him that way, but she, like Jordan, doesn't know if he returns those feelings).

Then, there was a beeping emitting from Ryu's helmet. The said Spartan put his helmet on. "Ryu here." He said. There was a pause. "Yes sir, mission was successful, and I have sent my report to O.N.I." another pause. "Yes sir." Pause. "Roger, I'll tell them."

Ryu took off his helmet. "Looks like we have a field trip boys and girls." He said. "Where are we going?" Sarah asked. "Please tell me it's Crystal cove!" I asked hopfully, wishing to return to the greatest beach in the whole galaxy.

Ryu smiled, but shook his head. "Sorry, kids." He said. "Pack your things, we're going to Reach."


	2. Chapter 1: Meet the SPARTAN's

August 28st 2552, 1230 hours, UNSC Prowler _Silent Knight _En-route to Reach.

I coughed as I exited the Cryo-tube. "Damn!" I shouted. "Why the hell do I keep using this shit?"

"I know, the sting is a bitch." The Navy man from the observation point up above said. Currently, we were just getting up from our Cryo "sleep" for we were almost at reach. Soon the others were waking up having a similer reaction to waking from the Cryo-pods. "It's not the stinging; it's the damn dry through." I replied.

"I herd that!" Ryu shouted after he was finished coughing. We tended to get use to the Stinging sensation we get from "Freezer Burn" because we've had worse, but nothing, and I mean _nothing _will sum up to the amount of torture coming out of Cryo can do to a guy's through.

"The captain said we'll be exiting Slip-space in a few minutes." The Navy man said. "The captain said to report to the Hanger bay."

"Got it." Ryu said. "We'll head there now."

Shortly after, we were walking into the Pelican Drop ship. Almost as soon as we boarded the Pelican took off from _Silent Knight. _From the window, my eyes widened. "Wow." I said. Outside, was Reach. None of us have ever actually been to Reach, but we certainly have heard of it. The U.N.S.C's "Fortress among the stars." The birthplace of the SPARTAN II's, and the most heavily fortified position under human protection other than Earth. From the Widow we could see many different ships fly around shipyards, space stations, and things like that. We could also see the Planet's two moons, Turul, and Csdaszarvas. "_Quite a site, isn't it?_" The pilot of the Pelican said. "_First time at Reach?_"

"Yup." Ryu said, looking out the Window. "Sure is a sight."

"I'd hate to be the sorry covenant bastard that has to go through _those._" Corrine said, pointing to the numerous Super M.A.C cannons. "I herd those could blow straight though a Covie battleship."

"Ya, If the Covenant come through here, the'll have one hell of a fight on their hands." Ryu said, admiring the work on the Orbital Defense grid.

_A few hours later_

Soon, we were groundside in O.N.I's Castle base. We were told to await for a V.I.P to greet us. We were sitting in the "Waiting room" as we were calling it.

It wasn't long until someone did greet us. It was a somewhat elderly woman, probobly in her 60's. She had Grey hair, and blue eyes. And she had that look about her that said 'I know how to get stuff done.' On her. Though, I had a theory who this woman was already.

"I assume your Delta squad?" The woman asked. Ryu stood up and saluted. "Ma'am, Ryu Hisanaga, Master Chief Petty Officer third class reporting."

The woman chuckled. "No need for formalities with me, Spartans." She said. "I'm just another Civilian." Ryu nodded. "Now, who are you Squad mates?" She asked, staring at the rest of us. "These are Jordan Takeo, Corrine Leese, and Sarah Lenix, Ma'am."

She nodded. "Very well." She said. "Well, my name is Doctor Catherine Halsey." _I knew it! _I thought. _She's the founder of the Spartans! _"Now, if you could follow me, please." She said, as we did so and followed her though the hallways of the Castle base. Soon, we made it to a door that led us into a breafing room. "Please, have a seat." The Doctor said.

We did as told and took out seats in the front row. Me next to Sarah, and Ryu next to Corrine. "Now, I know that you may be wondering why the U.N.S.C has called all of you here?" Halsey asked, to witch we all nodded. "Well then, as you know I am the founder of the Original Spartan II's." she continued. "And even though you were created by Ackerson" she practically spat out the name of the admiral "That does not change your abilities in combat that will be required for this mission."

Ryu spoke up. "And what exactactly is that mission, Ma'am?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled. "What I am about to tell you is Classified." She said. "You, along with my own Spartan's are going on a Deep infiltration mission into Covenant Terretory with one objective: to capture a Prophet, or one of the Leaders of the Covenant."

There was a long minute of Silence. "Are you kidding me?" Corrine spoke up. "Even in O.N.I standards, that's a suiside mission."

"Not unless you know what your doing, Corrine." Ryu said. "After all, Deep infiltration _is _what we were trained for."

Halsey nodded. "Yes, it is." She said. "And also, it is a near suiside mission, but we have the know-how, and the technicalities required to do this."

"I'm assuming this is a join operation with the Original Spartans?" Ryu asked. The docter nodded. "Yes, you will be meeting them in a few days." She said. "You are all being assigned to the U.N.S.C _Pilliard of Autum,_ Under the command of Captain Jacob Keys."

Two days later

Me, Ryu, Sarah and Corrine waited as the Captain's shuttle decended into the hanger. We were joined by Lieutenant Hikowa. As the Captain exited the shuttle, we snapped to attention. "Welcome aboard sir." The Lieutenant said. Keys returned the salute. "At ease." He said, and looked at us. "I assume you are Delta squad?" he asked. "Yes, sir." Ryu said. "Spartans D118, D300, D090, and D100 reporting!"

Keys nodded. "You have any names?" he asked. Ryu nodded. "My name is Ryu Hisanaga." He said.

"My name is Jordan Takeo."

"My name is Sarah Lenix."

"Corrine Leese, it's a pleasure to meet you sir."

The captain raised a slight eyebrow. "You still use your last names?" he asked. Ryu smiled. "we're pretty much the only Spartans that do." He said. "We try not to forget who we all really are." The captain nodded, and we followed him as Hikowa gave the Captain a tour of the ship. It ended as we approached the Primary storage bay, the Spartan II's barraks. I breathed in deeply. "Nervous?" Keys asked. "I didn't think Spartans got nervous."

"Well, this is the first time any Spartan III has met the other Spartan II's." I said.

"The only other II's we've met are Jorge and Kurt, sir." Ryu finished. "We've never met the whole gang."

"Well then your in for a shock." Keys said as the door opened.

In the Cargo bay, the Spartans had converted it into a massive Barracks. They were all wearing there MJOLNIR battle armor.

The room was filled with motion, Spartans unpacking crates, others cleaning, and fiend stripping their weapons, and a pair of them were practicing their hand-to-hand combat that it was hard for us to keep track of who was throwing the punches.

_There they are. _I thought. _The original Spartans! _I was…eager to say the least at the moment. Liutenant Kurt Ambros told us stories about the original Spartan II's, but as I said to Captain keys, we've only meet two of them, Jorge from Noble team, and the lieutenant hiself. Needless to say we were…in awe.

"Captain on the deck!" One of the Spartans yelled. And almost instantly all of the activity stopped as the Spartans stood at attention.

"As you were." The captain said as the Spartans continued.

One of them approached us. As he stepped towards us, he gave a quick look at me and the others, and then faced the Captain.

"Master Chief, SPARTAN 117 Reporting as Ordered." He said. "Sir, I regret the unit was not able too ask your permission to come aboard. Admiral Sanforth insisted we keep our presence off the COM channels."

"Quite all right Master chief." Captain Keys said. "I just wanted to extend my reguards. If you or your men need anything, let me know."

"Yes sir." The master chief said, and then gave a look at Ryu.

"Ah yes, almost forgot." Keys said. "Master chief, Meet Ryu D118. The leader of Delta Squad."

"Delta Squad, sir?" The chief asked with a small hint of confusion in his voice. "I think its best if all of your men hear this." Keys said. "Understood." The Chief said. "Assemble!" He shouted and In almost light-speed, all of the Spartans quickly ran together into 5 rows of three.

"Spartans," Keys said. "I see that you have now met Delta Squad. They are a team from Gamma company of the SPARTAN III project."

There was a small silence and one of the Spartans raised their hands. "SPARTAN III's, sir?" the Spartan, a girl, asked.

"Yes, it was started shortly after the War broke out." Keys said. "I myself don't know the full details, but they are a more largely trained division of Spartans much like yourselves, and go through very similer, if not the exact same training you go through, but in shorter time." He then geastured to us. "These are Delta Squad." He continued. "They were specificly trained in Deep infiltration, Sabotage, and team work. We believe these skills will be required in your mission, so the higher ups though it wise to bring them along."

He then started introducing us one at a time. "Ryu Hisanaga," he said. "SPARTAN D118. Delta Squad's leader, and senior officer." He then moved to me. "Jordan Takeo, SPARTAN D300. Second in command. Sarah Lenix, SPARTAN D100. Heavy weapons specialist. Corrine Leese, SPARTAN D090, Team sniper."

We all nodded as we were introduced. "Now, if you excuse me, I must get to the bridge." The Captain said. "Sir!" The master chief, and the other saluted as the Captain left.

Then the Master chief stepped up towards Ryu. "You said you name was Ryu Hisanaga?" he asked.

Ryu nodded. "I know what your thinking." He said. "Your wondering why I use my full name?" The chief nodded. "Well, lets just say most Spartan III's have rough history involving the Covenant." He said. "Most of us lost all of our families in battles like Harvest, Octavious, Paris, and such. I myself am from Jericho VII. My family was wiped out by a Single elite warrior with its bear hands, and I was saved by some Marines." He then looked at me and Sarah. "Jordan and Sarah over there were from Harvest." He said. "Jordan lost his family who were in a separate shuttle as it got shot down. And Sarah's lost most of her family, save her sister who she has no idea where she is."

He then gestured to Corrine. "Corrine didn't really have a family." He said. "Lived on the streets, and we all ended up at the same Orphinage. Where just a few years later, we were taken in the Spartan III project."

"Who was your C.O?" One of the Spartans asked, a female with "Kelly: 087" imptented on her armor.

"Well, Chief Mendez was our Drill instructor." I said. "And our C.O was Kurt Ambros, some Ex-Spartan II."

The reaction among the Spartans told us they knew Mendez, and they were shocked at an "Ex-Spartan"

"You were trained by the Chief?" one of the Boy Spartans, his Armor said "Fred: 104" on it. "Yes." Sarah said. "He pretty much took us to hell with his Constand training."

"That's the chief for ya." Another male Spartan, this one with "William-043"said. "He made our lives a living hell too. I pitty you."

"If you can survive _his _training," another female Spartan, "Linda-058" said. "I'd say they earn the right to be Spartans."

The chief nodded. He then extened his hand out to Ryu. "Well then," he said. "Welcome to the Spartan II's." Ryu smiled, and grabbed his hand.

**(A/N: I know, Kinda of a short and boring Chapter. But I assure you, the next one will have MUCH more action!)**


	3. Chapter 2: The Fall of Reach

_Pillar of Autumn _Main Cargo Bay (Spartan Barracks) 0518 Hours, August 30th 2552. Epsilon Eridani System Edge.

It didn't take long for us to all start feeling at home with the SPARTAN II's.

Ryu worked his magic and instantly made friends with most if not all of the Spartans. It took me and the others a little longer, but in the end us SPARTAN III's and the II's fit perfectly. Same training, same Drill instructor, and basically the same armor. For a good few hours we traded stories with each other, about training, missions, and things like that.

It was good to know that we weren't the _only _ones who had to go through Mendez's version of hell. And I considered myself, and the others lucky that we didn't have to do it for as long as they did.

One of the more popular questions was why we kept our full names. "Well," Ryu said. "As I mentioned earlier, we all lost thing in the war. Me, Jordan, and Sarah all lost our families at Harvest and Jericho. Corrine however never really had a family, so she treats us as one, and we promised to stay together. As for our names, since we are pretty much the last of our families, we didn't want our family names to just disappear. The Hisanaga family was know for generations for great warriors aging all the way to ancient Japanese Samurai. The Takeo family were known as very experienced pilots ranging from old planes from the 20th century, to modern day Longswords, Pelicans, you name it, he can fly it. Sarah's family, the Lenix's were known to have at least one family member join a military in almost every war dating all the way back to the American Revolution. As for Corrine…well, as I said she really didn't have a family. But she refuses to forget who she really is."

John, who was listening to our story along with the other Spartans, nodded. He was about to say something when suddenly he, and all of the other Spartans looked up. We felt it too. A slight lateral acceleration, that soon became a spin strong enough that we had to brace our legs. The Pillar of Autumn was turning.

Shortly after, the Autumn's engines rumbled to life like thunder through the hull of the ship.

"Sir, I thought we were accelerating to enter slip Space." Kelly said. "So did I." John replied. "Have Fred and Joshua continue to prep the tubes. Have Linda get a team and secure our gear. I'll find out what's going on."

"Aye, sir." Kelly said. Then the Master Chief walked to the Intercom. He pressed the button. "Cortana? We've changed course. Is there a problem?" he said.

Instead of Cortana's voice, the Captain himself replied. "Captain Keys to Spartan 117." He said,

"Here sir."

"There's been a change in plans." Keys said, with a long pause. "This will be easier to explain face-to-face. I'm on my way down to brief you. Keys out."

After the transmission, Corrine spoke up. "I got a bad feeling about this." She said.

"You always get a bad feeling." Sarah said.

Soon after the Elevator doors opened and the Captain entered the Cargo bay. The Spartans soon stood at attention. "At ease." Keys said. Though, the captain's face showed that "Ease" was not on his mind at the moment. "Something's very wrong." Keys said to the Chief. "Let's talk in private."

"Sir, Unless you want to leave the deck, the Spartans will hear everything we say." The chief said.

The captain glaced at the Spartans. "Very well." He said. "You might as well hear too. I don't know how they found Reach, they bypassed a dozen inner Colony worlds to get here. It doesn't matter now, they are here, and we have to do something."

"Sir, they?" the chief asked, but me, Ryu, Sarah and Corrine all knew who _they _were.

"The Covenant." He said. He then displayed the Alpha Priority message saying just that. "Shit." Ryu muttered on our Private Comm. "This isn't good."

"The Covenant have found reach?" Sarah said, a hint of worry in her voice. "But, how could they-"

"Found it without us knowing?" Corrine finished. "My guess says they tracked a UNSC ship after a battle. I don't know, but it doesn't matter now. They _are _here. And we have to stop them."

"Easier said than done." I said. "Reach may be a Fortress world, but the Covie's are probably bringing in the big guns. This isn't earth, but its just as defended."

"And if Reach falls…" Ryu said, trailing off. "Humanity's life just got cut short." I finished.

The captain then said that the Infiltration mission had been Scrubbed.

"Sir, Scrubbed?" The chief said.

"Reach is our strategic headquarters and our biggest ship-building facility." The captain said. "If the shipyard falls, then Dr. Halsey's prediction of humanity having only months to survive will shrink to weeks."

Even though we knew that, the fact alone made us stiffen. "Sir, our two missions are not mutually exclusive." The Chief said.

The Captain staired at the chief. "What do you mean master chief?" he asked.

"A hundred alien vessels, sir. Between the combined force of the fleet _and _Reach's orbital gun platforms, its almost guaranteed there will be a disabled ship my Squad and Delta can board and capture." The chief said.

"There will be hundreds of ships exchanging fire with one another." The Captain pointed out. "Missiles, Nukes, Plasma Torpedoes…"

"Just get us close enough." The Chief said. "Punch a hole in their shields long enough for us to get in their hull. We'll do the rest."

"It's what we were trained for sir." Ryu said stepping forward. "Infiltration is our middle name."

The captain chewed his pipe. "There are operational complications with your plan." He said. "Cortana has been running the Pilliard of Autumn's shakedown, We have our own AI, but by the time we get it initialized, and running on the ship, the battle could be over."

"I see sir." The chief said.

The captain gazed at the chief, then to Ryu. He sighed. "_If _there is a disabled Covenant ship, if we are close enough to it, _and _if we're not blown into billions of bits, then I'll transfer Cortana to you. I've flown ships withough AI's before." The captain gave a quick smile.

"Yes sir!" The chief said.

The captain then said that we would reach the Ralley point in a few minutes. And that we should be prepared for anything. The captain gave a quick salute, and walked out of the Hanger bay.

Almost immediately the Master chief started barking orders to get everyone ready. Getting C-12 Explosives ready, ONI gear, and all that.

Me and Delta team were getting our own gear ready. We were expecting a big battle, so we were gathering everything we could carry.

Ryu was going after his personal favorite assortment. He had his Katana sword (of course), along with some hidden wrist-mounted 6inch knives that Fred gave him. He also grabbed a Grenade launcher, a M45 Tactical shotgun, a D.M.R, MA37, four frag grenades, and enough ammo for the said weapons.

Corrine also went after her favorite gear. A Sniper rifle, a M7 SMG with a suppressor, and a DMR with a substantial amount of ammo for those weapons.

Sarah did as she always did, Overkill in firepower. She grabbed a Rocket Launcher, 6 Rockets for said launcher, a Shotgun, DMR, MA37, and lastly, one M246H Heavy Machine Gun.

I also got my own selection of weapons. Two M6G Pistols, a Grenade Launcher, DMR, Shotgun, and a MA37. I was going to grab a pair of M7's, but I decided what I grabbed was enough.

Sarah then stepped up to me after she grabbed her gear. "Reach is gonna fall, isn't it?" She asked.

I shook my head. "Proboly." I said. "Reach will fight back...But The Covenant are coming with a Large force. Even with the MAC cannons, all we can really do it slow them down here."

Sarah nodded her head. "What will we do, then?" she asked. "The only thing we can do, Sarah." I replied. "Fight."

_A few hours later_

"…_They've breached the perimeter! Fall Back! Fall Back! If anyone can hear this: The Covenant is groundside! Massing near the Armory… they're-_"

The message from the Reach ground defenses were sent to us after the chief receved them from the Captain.

We all knew that the Covenant would only invade for one reason. The ground-based Planetary defense generators. They helped power the MAC guns. If they got those…Reach will fall instantly after that.

And on top of that, was the message the Chief attached to it. Coming from the Reach Shipyards. The UNSC _Circumference _could not initiate the Cole Protocole, and purge all data reguarding UNSC weapons research, force deployments, and most importantly…The coordinates to Earth.

Then The Captains image appeared on the view screen. "Master Chief, I believe the Covenant will use a pin-point slipspace jump to position themselves just off the space dock." He said. "They may try to get their troops on the station before the Super MAC guns can take out their ships. This is going to be a difficult mission…I'm open to sudjestions."

"We can handle it sir." The chief said.

Keys leaned back in his chair. "How so?" he asked.

"With all due respect, sir. Spartans are trained for difficult missions." He said. "I'll split my squad. Three will board the space dock, while the remainder will go ground-side and protect the Defense generators."

"Too risky." Keys said. "We'll just use our conventional weapons and destroy the station."

"But sir," Ryu said. "If you use the conventional weapons, the Covenant could scavange the wreckage, and they could get lucky and the data is salvageable. And if you use nukes, the EMP could disable the Coils on the Orbital guns."

Keys nodded his head. "You do have a point." He said. "Fine, chief, Delta. Missions approved. But I need Delta for a separate mission."

"Sir?" Ryu asked, stepping forward.

"On reach, a very vital package was going to be delivered to the Autumn when we caught a Covenant vessel." Keys said. "But with the Attack, we need to get that package now. It's absolutely vital that this reaches UNSC hands, and stays away from the Covenant."

"Where are we going sir?" Ryu asked.

"The Ship-breaking yards of Aszod." He replied. "Nobel Team has a very important package that _can not _fall into enemy hands."

"Noble team?" Ryu asked, not believing what he was hearing. I couldn't either. We knew Noble team well during our own training.

"Yes, Noble Team." Keys confirmed. "You are to take a Pelican and to pick them up."

2 hours later, Aszod.

SPARTAN-B312 Julia Waters ran through the building of Aszod attempting to reach the extraction point. Following her was SPARTAN A239 Emile, who wore complete EVA gear with a custom helmate shaped like a skull.

"We're almost there!" Julia shouted as she fired her DMR at a grunt while still running. "I know, I know!" Emile replied. Julia herself was wearing the MJOLNIR/UA Multi-threat Variant armor.

Julia rolled forward, missing a Grunt tossing a Plasma grenade. Emile fired his shotgun as said grunt killing it.

An elite dropped from the catwalk from above with it's energy sword drawn, but Emile jumped up, slammed into the elite, and stabbed his knife into the Alien's neck. "That's what you get when you mess with a Spartan." He said to the dying elite.

"Now's not the Time Emile!" Julia shouted as she exited the building, quickly followed by Emile shortly after.

They now found themselves outside, next to a small Pelican landing platform. There was a collection of Marines there as well, about 7 of them armed with MA37's, DMR's, and such.

In another building next to them, was a single small MAC cannon used for taking out single targets. "I'll take the big gun!" Emile said. "Take out any Phantoms." Julia nodded and activated the comm.

"Command! This is Spartan B312 requesting evac." She said. "I have the Package. I repeat, we have the package."

"_Roger that, Nobel 6._" The voice of Captain keys replied. "_I'm sending a recovery team your way now. 4 minutes out._"

"Roger. Nobel 6 out!" She then switched it to Emile's comm. "We've gotta hold out for 4 minutes!" she said.

"No problem!" Emile replied as he activated the MAC gun. "We've got Phantoms inboud! I'm going loud!" Then, the MAC gun fired off a round. One of the Covenant drop ships that was about to drop their load of infantry were hit by the MAC, and exploded into a blast of blue fire.

But two other Drop ships managed to deploy their loads of Troops of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and Skirmishers.

Julia tossed a Frag grenade at a columb of Jackals and Grunts walking down some stairs. The grenade detonated and the bodies of the aliens went flying. She then hopped and stepped on a Jackal's shield, hopped behind the said alien, grabbed it's neck and broke it. She then grabbed the Jackal's shield and used it to avoid a blast from a Grunt's overcharged pistol, disabling the shield, but leaving her own personal shield intact.

She fired a trio of shots from her M6G pistol at the Grunt, killing it.

An elite attempted to get up behind her, but she side-stepped, and she fired the last few rounds of her MA37 into the elite killing it's shields. While using her own knife to finish the job.

She tossed away the useless rifle, and grabbed the Elite's own Plasma Repeater and fired at a pair of elites. The shots tore through their shields and killed them.

Julia then holstered the Repeater, and drew out her DMR and fired at a team of Skirmishers with Needle rifles. Two shots, two aliens hit the ground dead.

She herd additional Plasma fire behind her, and she turned to see three marines firing at a Zealot class elite, with two elite minors. She sprinted over to them, but the Zealot elite impailed one of the Marines with a Sword, and the other two were killed by a Minor's Plasma Grenade.

Julia reacted and fired her Repeater at the aliens drawing their attention for the four other Marines. She got lucky and killed one of the Minors. But the Zealot and the last Minor took cover.

Her Repeater was running low on energy, so she tossed it aside and drew her DMR again, along with a Frag. She tossed the Frag in the direction of the two elites. Before it detonated, the elites ran out of their cover to dodge the blast. But Julia saw this coming, and with a few quick shots killed the last Minor elite. But the Zealot saw her and managed to evade the shots. The elite ran towards her with an energy sword drawn.

She responded by drawing out her own Knife, and her Pistol. She fired a few shots from her pistol at the elite, but it wasn't enough to drop it's shields.

The elite raised it's sword, but Julia tackled the elite in the chest. She then slapped the elite's sword away.

The Zealot tried to kick Julia off, but she then stabbed her knife into the Elite's chest. The Zealot yelled out in pain, witch was ended when Julia brought the knife out, and stabbed the Elite in the neck.

She could hear Emile whistle. "Remind me never to piss you off." He said. Julia smiled and nodded at the Skull-faced Spartan.

"Here comes the Drop ship." Emile said. Indeed, the Pelican approached the Landing pad. Julia quickly ran up to the Pelican. Where she was greeted by none other than four Spartans.

"Who are you?" She asked one of the Spartans with samurai-like armor and a sword.

"Ryu Hisanaga! Spartan D118!" The Spartan replied. "You Noble team?"

"Julia Waters, Spartan B312!" she replied. "Yes, I'm with Noble."

"You got the Package?" one of the other Spartans wearing a Rouge helmate.

"Right here." Julia said, grabbing a canaster with a purple light emmiting from inside it.

"Alright, come on!" Ryu said. "We're getting out of here." Julia nodded and climbed onboard the Pelican. "We have to pick up Emile on that MAC gun." She said. Ryu nodded. "Jordan, pull over to that MAC to pick up the last Spartan!"

"Copy that sir!" Jordan replied from inside the cockpit. The Pelican then started moving towards the MAC gun. Emile dismounted the MAC and headed towards the Pelican. _We're getting out. _Julia thought. _We're gonna get out of here. _Just as Emile was about to jump on, a strange shimmer appeared behind him. "EMILE! BEHIND YOU!" Julia screamed. Emile turned around just in time to see the Cloaked elite stab him in the chest.

Emile responded to this by drawing his own Machete out. "I'm ready!" he shouted as he stabbed the Spec-op elite. "How about you!"

"Emile!" Julia shouted. Emile killed the elite, but fell next to it. "_..G..Go…_" he managed to say. "_get…outta here…_"

"But-"Julia said as three more elites appeared. "Go!" Emile shouted as he stood back up. "I'll hold e'm off!" One of the elites charged, and Emile fired his shot gun, killing it. The second elite kicked Emile away, but he got back up, grabbed the energy sword the elite used to impale him, and stabbed the other elite with it.

As the last Elite approached, the Pelican started moving away. "no!"Julia shouted. "We cant just leave him!"

"We got no choise!"Ryu shouted back, as they watched Emile fight with the last of his strength against the Elite. "He stayed so that we can live…don't let his sacrifice go in vain."

Julia said nothing, but watched as Emile stabbed the last elite in the neck, killing it. And he himself fell to the ground, motionless.

_Jordan POV. _

I piloted the Pelican towards the Autumn. I managed to avoid direct fire from the dozens of Covenant carriers, destroyers, and cruisers. When our Pelican landed in the Autumn, the Pelican John was using also landed.

I exited the Cockpit, and met up with the others outside in the Hanger bay, along with the new Spartan from Reach we picked up.

She was wearing Sage green MJOLNIR mark V armor, Multi-threat variant. With stripes of red along the helmet, back, and legs.

Though, most of the paint was worn off, and most of her armor was fading from Green and Red, into a dark steel color.

"The Captain will probably want to meet you." Ryu said. The Spartan girl nodded, holding the package in her hands and followed us as we made our way to the Bridge.

As we passed the Chief, medics were taking Linda, who looked practically dead already, to the medical wing of the ship. _Hope she's alright. _I thought.

After a few minutes, we managed to reach the Bridge. We then stood at attention and saluted to the Captain. "At ease." He said. He then faced Julia, who handed him the Package. "Good to see you, Spartan." He said, taking the Package. "Dr. Halsey assured me I could count on you."

"Not just me sir." She said, almost emotionlessly. Keys nodded. "They'll be remembered." He said. Keys walked up to the AI terminal and inserted the Package into it. The Package stopped glowing and the Captain let it go. At that time, The chief stepped into the bridge. Took a quick glance at Julia, and then saluted to the Captain. "Reporting for debriefing, sir." He said. Keys turned to face the Spartan. "Was the NAV database destroyed?" He asked.

"I wouldn't have left a mission incomplete sir." The chief replied.

"Very good, Master chief." Keys said.

"Sir, may I ask for active FOF tags in the region?" the chief asked. "I lost a man in the station…and he may still be out there."

"Lieutenant Hall?" the captain asked.

"Scanning…" The said crewmember said. She looked back and shook her head.

"I see." The chief said. "When are we going to pick up the groundside team?"

The captain turned, and faced the viewport. "We wont." He replied, shocking us. "They were overrun. And we've lost contact with them."

"Then, permission to take a Pelican and retrieve them, sir."

"Denied, chief." Keys responded. "We cant stay here any longer…Dominique, aft camera."

We looked at the view screen, and I, along with most of the others felt their hearts sink.

Covenant ships were Swarming reach now. UNSC ships were fleeing, those that couldn't move were slaughtered by covenant ships.

Also, covenant Carriers and Destroyers were firing their plasma cannons on the surface of reach. Glassing the surface.

"…Doctor Halsey's mission…" The captain said. "…is more important than ever now…it's the only hope humanity has left now."

I clenched my fists. _He was right. _I thought. _This…is humanity's last hope now…_

"Ensign Lovell." Keys said. "Give me our best acceleration. I wanna get into slip-space as soon as possible."

"Yes sir." Lovell said. Keys then turned to the Spartans. "Your dismissed." He said. We gave him a quick salute and left the bridge.


	4. Chapter 3: Pillar of Autumn part 1

U.N.S.C _Pillar of Autumn. _August 31st 2552. 2 hours after the Fall of reach.

While the Chief was in the medical wing being checked for any possible wounds, the rest of Delta, and Julia were in the Spartan Barracks in the Cargo bay.

It was a lot more quiet now, without the Other Spartan II's. The loss of all of them hit John the hardest, but it also did its number on us as well. We made a lot of friends among the Spartans in the short time we met. Though not as heavy as it was on the chief, it still hit us like a ton of bricks.

But we were also concerned about Julia, aka Noble 6. She hasn't spoken to anyone since we got her onboard other than the Captain when she gave him the package…whatever it was. Now she was just sitting in the Barracks, staring blankly in front of her.

I'll admit, she looked physically beautiful. Short crimson red hair at shoulder-length, a little curly, and emerald green eyes. But she had that look on her face that she lost a lot. A very familiar face to me, and the others. It was the same look Me, Sarah, and Ryu had when we lost all of our famalies.

Due to the fact that none of the other members of Noble team were present other than her and Emile at the extraction point, we had to guess they were Killed by the Covenant.

I decided to go and talk to her. After all _someone _had to get her out of that mood of hers. I walked up to the Spartan. "Hey, you alright?" I asked when I knelt next to her.

She didn't look back at me, but she nodded her head. "I know that it hurts…" I said. "…to loose friends you care about. But the most you can do right now is remember what they did for you. And try not to mope around like this."

"I know that." She said in barley a whisper. "But…it still hurts…"

"It always will." I said. "Me and the others lost a lot in the war too. Me, Sarah and Ryu lost our families at the hands of the Covenant. We know it hurts, but the best thing you can do now is move on."

She was silent for a few seconds. "Thanks." She said, forcing a smile. I smiled back. "Don't mention it." I said. "Just remember, if you want to talk to someone, you can talk to any one of us, even the chief."

Julia nodded, she stood up and started working on her equipment.

"Remind you of someone?" A voice said. I turned around to see Sarah just behind me leaning on some crates. I smiled. "She's a mirror image of all of us." I said. "Someone needed to tell her to lighten up alittle." Sarah smiled back. "You always did have a way with words, Jordan." She said.

I blushed at the compliment. "T-thanks." I said. At that time The Master chief walked in. "So, how you feeling?" Ryu asked the Spartan.

The chief nodded. "No major injuries in Spartan Standards." He said. "Also, the Captain said we're going into cryo sleep."

"Damnit!" Corrine complained. "I hate that shit."

"We all do, Corrine." Ryu said, putting his arm around her. "We just have to deal with it."

September 19th 2552. 20 days later

The _Pillar of Autumn _shuddered as she took a direct hit.

"Status!" Captain Keys barked. "What just hit us?"

"Seraph Fighter sir!" Hikowa said. "Tricky bastard Must have powered down to avoid detection."

"Teach him a lesson, Lieutenant." Keys said. A moment later, a longsword squadron blasted the covenant fighter to oblivion.

Keys wiped away a trickle of sweat from his forehead. He checked his display, they had reverted back into normal space twenty minutes ago, and the covenant picket patrols have already found them.

He looked out the view screen and saw the gas Giant in front of him, Threshold.

"Sir, sensors are picking up a squadron of fighters inbound with boarding craft following." Hikowa said.

"It was just a matter of time Liutenant." The captain sighed. "We cant hide here forever."

The Autumn seamed to glide out of the shadow of the gas giant, and into the bright sunlight.

That was when he saw It, and his, along with many of the bridge crew's eyes, widened.

They were expecting Seraphs, Covenant ships, or some other military threat…

They hadn't expected the massive object floating between Threshold, and it's moon basis.

A enormous ring-shaped object, that seemed to shimmer with a glow like a jewel emitting from within it. The outer surface seemed metal, and seemed engraved with deep geographic patterns. A closer look revealed what looked like oceans, and continents.

"Cortana…" The captain said. "What…is that?"

Cortana appeared on the AI Terminal. "The ring is 22.3 Kilometers thick, Spectroscopics is inconclusive…but patterns do not match any known Covenant material."

Though this made him nervous, The thought that this may be beyond _Covenant _engineering some sort of small comfort though.

"If it's artificial, then who the hell built it?" Keys asked.

"I don't know, sir." Cortana replied.

Keys staired at the Ring world for a few seconds. "Then we better find out." He said, lighting a match, and using his pipe.

Cryo Chamber

My vision was blured as I awoke from Cryo sleep. And yet again, my thought felt like shit.

_Why the HELL do I keep using this shit! _I thought as my vision cleared. "Sorry about the Quick thaw, sirs." The Ensign who woke us said. "Things are alittle hectic at the moment. Don't worry, the disorientation should pass quickly."

"It's not the disorientation that's screwing with my throught." I replied. Herd Ryu chuckle slightly before coughing.

Soon Me, along with Sarah, Ryu, Corrine, Julia, and John hopped out of our respected Cryo tubes. The wake-up crew ran use though a series of tests to make sure we were still fine after the quick thaw from Cryo.

Not that we needed it, or anything of course.

"_Bridge to Cryo bay two._" The captain's voice echoed in the room. "Send the Spartans to the bridge immedietly. On the double Crewman."

The ensign nodded, and faced us. "We'll find weapons later." He said. Almost immedietly after he finished the statement, the sound of an explosion echoed though the Cryo Bay.

"Their trying to get through the door!" The ensign in the observation deck said. Soon after he said that, the door of the Observation deck blew open, and blasts of Plasma arched out of the doorway, followed by an Elite Major with red armor.

"Sam!" the ensign with us said, as the elite killed the crewman above.

At that I wanted to just punch throught the glass of the observation window, and kill that elite, and I felt the others wanted the same.

But we had our orders. Captain wanted us at the bridge, so we had to get there.

"Come on, we got to get the hell outta here!" the Ensign said. We followed the Ensign down a corridor…only for him to stop in front of a door as the said door exploded in front of the ensign. We all ducked, nearly avoiding the blast of the explostion.

"This way!" Ryu shouted, hopping over some pipes. We continued running through the Corradors. The UNSC marines, ODST and navy crewmen were trying to contain the Covenant, and they were doing a fair job at it, to say the least.

I ran forward passing Ryu as we passed through another door…only to run head on with an elite.

"Shit!" I shouted as I rammed into the said alien. The Elite roaed, and aimed his rifle, but soon his arm was cut off because Ryu desided to put his sword to good use. The elite whaled in pain, and retreated.

"So that's half a kill, right?" Ryu asked. I shook my head.

For a good few minutes, we ran through the corrodors of the Autumn. Soon, we finally reached the bridge. The Captain was looking out at the view screen, looking at some weird ring-shaped object in space.

"Captain Keys." The chief said.

The Captain turned to face us. "Good to see you Master Chief, Delta Squad, Noble 6." He said. "Things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we didn't really have a chance."

"A dozen Covenant battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser." The said AI replied. "With those odds we still we still got three…make that four kills."

Cortana faced the chief. "Sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, no thinks to your driving." The Chief replied. Me and Delta shrugged our response, and Julia just nodded.

Cortana smiled at the Chief. "So you did miss me?" she said.

Before he could reply, another blast rocked the bridge. I managed to stay on my feet, and caught sarah who almost fell flat on her face. (to witch she blushed at, but Jordan didn't see because she was wearing her armor.) "Well this is fun!" Ryu remarked sarcastically as he got back on his feet.

"Report!" Keys barked.

"It must have been one of their boarding parties." Cortana replied. "My guess is an anti-matter charge."

"Ma'am!" the fire control officer said. "Control of the main cannon is offline!"

Cortana looked at the Captain. "Captain, the cannon was my last defensive option." She said. Keys nodded.

"Alright." He said. "I'm initiating the Cole protocol. Article two. We're abandoning the Autumn. That means you too Cortana."

"While you do what?" Cortana shouted. "Go down with the ship?"

"In a matter of speaking." Keys replied, facing the view screen showing the ring-world. "The object we found." He said. "I'm going to try and land the autumn on it."

Cortana shook her head. "Will all due respect, sir." She said. "this war has enough dead heroes!"

_Too many in my opinion. _I thought.

The captain locked eyes with her. "I appreciate your concern, Cortana but the Cole Protocol is not up to me. The destruction or capture of a ship-board AI is absolutely unacceptable." He said. "That means you _are _abandoning ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones and upload them to my neural lace."

The AI paused, but nodded. "Aye, aye sir." She said and dissipeared.

"This is where you come in gentlemen." The Captain said, turning to face us. "Chief, get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they get her, they capture her, the'll learn everying. Force deployments, Weapon research…Earth."

The chief nodded. "I understand." He said. The captain turned and faced us and Noble 6. "You are to assist him." He said. "The chief may be another Spartan, but he's gonna need all of the help he can get."

"Sir!" Ryu said, snapping to a salute followed by the rest of us.

The captain nodded, and turned to face Cortana. "You ready?" he asked the AI.

Cortana took one last look around the bridge. "Yank me." She said.

Keys typed in a series of buttons on the consol, and Cortana's Hologram dissipeared. He then pulled out a green chip from the AI terminal. He handed it to John. "Good luck, Master Chief." He said.

The chief accepted the AI chip, and inserted it into his helmate. _You couldn't pay me enough to put something in my head like that. _I thought.

"Don't get any funny Ideas." The chief said, probably saying something to Cortana.

The Captain then handed the Chief a Pistol. "I'm sorry, I don't keep it loaded." He said. "and I only have one."

Ryu nodded, and Drew out his sword. The rest of us followed by drawing out our respective knives.

The captain nodded. "Then good luck Spartans." He said. We gave one final salute, and exited the bridge.


	5. Chapter 4: Pillar of Autumn part 2

Ryu swang his sword cutting a elite minor in half right down the middle. "Don't you think that was alittle overkill?" I asked as I fired my MA37 at a small squad of Grunts, tearing the little aliens to shreds.

"There is no such thing as overkill with the Covenant." Ryu replied as he tossed his sword at an elite, incapacitating it. The Elite yelled in pain, witch was silenced as Ryu ran up to the Elite, grabbed his sword while it was still in it, and ripped the elite in half, though some of it was still dangling from its torso.

"Why do you like to do that so often?" Julia asked as she snuck up on an elite firing at a few marines with her Active Camo on, jumped and kicked it down, and as the elite attempted to get back up, Julia jumped again, and landed on the elite's head smashing it's skull.

"Why do you like to smash elite skulls so often?" Ryu retorted.

"I do not!" Julia said as she fired her Assault rifle at a Jackal Skirmisher. "I just like CQC. What can I say?"

"Exactally." Ryu said as he fired his DMR at a trio of grunts. "Like you, I just love CQC."

Me and the others simply watched as Julia and Ryu took on elite after elite in CQC in the Autumn's corradors, while we were left with nothing more than Jackals, Grunts, and Skirmishers.

"Hey, why don't you leave some for us!" I shouted as I grabbed a Skirmisher by it's head, and snapped it's neck.

"We're leaving you the leftovers!" Ryu shouted back as he fired a full clip into a Elite Major disabling it's shields, and then finished it off with a bash from his Assault rifles butt.

"Well we'd like to get some more kills ya know?" Corrine said as she run-and-gunned another trio of grunts, and tossed a grenade at a pair of Jackals, the grenade detonated, killing them.

"Then ya'll have to act fast!" Ryu replied as they ran down another corridor.

"_There! Lifeboats straight ahead!"_ Cortana exclaimed. _"Hurry up before they leave without us!"_

None of us needed to be told twice, racing towards the three lifeboats in their moorings, firing on a handful of Jackals and Grunts standing in between us and our means of escape. Unfortunately, just as we reached a window that overlooked the lifeboats, they took off one by one. "Fuck!" Ryu shouted, banging on the glass.

As the pods launched however, the guns from one of the Covenant warships fired upon them. Beams struck the _Autumn's _hull and the third lifeboat, destroying it instantly.

"_The Covenant are destroying the lifepods…"_ Cortana said as they watched the two remaining craft made their escape. _"They really don't want us on that ring."_

"All the more reason for us to get down there," I replied, reloading my rifle. "Whatever that thing is, its really important to them."

"Maybe its their home world?" Sarah asked. "Or some kind of religious artifact?"

"No way it's their home world." Ryu said. "Its not guarded enough. Earth is more heavily guarded than this."

"Be as it may," Corrine said. "It's the only solid ground here, and I can't wait to feel some solid ground again."

"Agreed." I said. "Where's the closest set of lifeboats?"

"_Not too far,"_ Cortana answered. _"I'll set up a marker on your HUDs."_

A moment later, a marker arrow and the distance to the point in meters appeared on the heads-up display of our helmets. "Well then, let's get going," Ryu said, moving to head around the corner. "I'll take point."

Ryu rounded the corner, his rifle raised and ready. However there were no contacts, friendly or otherwise. We continued on, moving past the empty lifeboat moorings.

But as we neared another corner, our motion trackers detected several enemy contacts advancing on our position. Ryu peered around the corner, ducking back as Grunts fired at him. "Just a bunch of Grunts," he said. "Easy pickings."

The Chief nodded and the two of them spun around the corner, firing on the aliens. Within a few seconds, all of the Grunts were dead.

But then I noticed a shimmer moving behind them "Spec Ops behind you!" I shouted.

Just as I shouted, a cloaked Elite appeared in front of me, kicking me in the chest. I flew back, crashing to the ground. "Jordan!" Sarah shouted as more Elites appeared around us.

The one that knocked me down activated its energy dagger, moving to finish the me off. But Sarah then charged forward and crashed into the Elite, landed on top of him, and actually started punching the Elite in the face.

Another Elite fired its Plasma Rifle, striking my shield. But I threw one of my knives, the Elite howled as the blade lodged itself in its eye.

Then another Elite tackled me, trying to stab me with its dagger. As we grappled with each other, there was an explosion. Warning alarms sounded and an emergency bulkhead activated. I started pushing the Elite back, moving towards the moving bulkhead. Our struggles intensified. Neither seemed to be able to get the better of the other.

Sarah then finally finished up with the first one and managed to pull the Elite off of me. Sarah then did something I never though she did.

She grabbed the Elite's neck, holding it down under the closing bulkhead as it was closing. The alien fought back harder but it was too late. It howled as the bulkhead sealed. There was a crunch and blue blood sprayed out on us.

"Holy shit Sarah." I said as I got back up. "Never thought you'd do that."

"Hehe." Sarah said. "Guess I got…a little carried away."

I then looked around, first thing I noticed was that the elite Sarah beaten up senselessly had activated its own active camo and retreated. I decided to let it go. Next thing I noticed was that the others were nowhere to be seen. "Where are the others?" I asked. "On the other side." Sarah said, pointing at the closed bulkhead. I swore in my head.

"Chief, Cortana, Ryu, Guys do you read me?"

"_We're here,"_ the Master Chief answered. _"You two alright?"_

"We took care of the Elites on our end." I said. "Can you get the bulkhead open?"

"_Not from in here," _Cortana said.

I nodded. "You guys go on ahead." I said. "You need to get Cortana off the ship. we'll be fine,"

"_What about you?"_ Corrine asked.

"We'll find our own way out." Sarah said.

"_Lieutenant, the bulkheads behind you have also sealed. However, there is an access door to the service tunnels nearby. If you follow it down, it should end near the Engine Room,"_ Cortana explained. _"After that, it should only be a short walk to the hangers or where the HEV's are."_

"Alright then," I said, picking up my assault rifle before heading to the nearby door. "We'll see you guys on the ring."

"_Be careful, you two_." Ryu warned.

I chuckled slightly. "Aren't we always?" I replied.

Our journey through the service corridors had been relatively uneventful. The passage were too small for Elites to effectively move around in, so they ignored the tunnels, sending in only the occasional Grunt patrol into them. And of course, most of those we encountered ran in fear without an Elite commander to keep them in line.

Eventually after going down half a dozen ladders and what seemed like miles of narrow corridors, the we reached the end of the tunnels, picking up some comm chatter as we stepped out into a hallway.

"_All right,"_ a male voice said. _"Listen up! Play time is over. Captain Keyes is tired of our company and wants us to this tub. There's a construct down there, complete with an atmosphere, gravity, and the one thing marines' love like beer, dirt beneath our feet."_

"It must be a unit of marines that had been assigned to protect the Engine Room from Covenant boarders." I said to Sarah.

"Their probably preparing to leave in the drop pods." While the SOEIVs were primary insertion tool of the Orbital Shock Drop Troopers (ODST), all UNSC personnel were trained in their use as there plenty of instances in which other personnel would be forced to use them.

We began walking towards the Engine Room, ignoring the bullet holes and plasma burns on the walls as well as the dead Covenant.

"_Most of the crew, not to mention your fellow jarheads, will be leaving the ship in lifeboats. They'll ride to the surface in air-conditioned comfort, sipping wine and nibbling on appetizers."_

Upon hearing those words I stopped. It couldn't be… "Jordan, What is it?" Sarah asked. "Oh please dont be…" I said. "What?" Sarah asked again.

"_Not you, however. Oh no, you're going to leave the Pillar of Autumn by a different method. Tell me boys and girls, how will you leave?"_

I shook my head, I already knew what they were going to say.

"_WE GO FEET FIRST SIR!"_ the response came from dozens of voices.

"Helljumpers" I said. "Looks like we're dropping with the damned ODST."

"What's so bad about the ODST?" Sarah asked. "Don't get me wrong," I said. "The ODST are pretty good in combat, but their personalities are almost always so damn hostile! Sure I know a few good helljumpers, but like I said. Most of them are VERY aggressive. Expecally against Spartan II's."

"Why's that?" Sarah asked. "I don't know the details…" I said. "But a couple of years before the Covenant war started up, during a training exercise a single spartan fought four ODST's, and he managed to Knock them all out, and I think he killed one or two of them."

"Well, lets just hope their more friendly to III's." She said. I nodded. "Let's hope."

The set of doors at the end of the corridor opened and dozens of ODST soldiers started leaving the Engine Room. Upon seeing the us, they stopped with more than a few of them glaring at us, their commanding officer stepping forward. "Major Antonio Silva," the man said as he approached. "It's a surprise to see you here Master Chief. I assume you're here looking for a way off the _Autumn_." I forced out a chuckle to sound friendly.

"Sorry Sir, I'm not the Master Chief," I replied. "I'm Lieutenant Jordan D300, and this is Lieutenant Sarah D100 sir. But yes, we are looking for a way off the ship, and we were hoping we could hitch a ride with you."

The Major sized us up for a moment before nodding his head. "Very well Lieutenant's. We're about to leave the ship as well. You're welcome to come with us as long as you don't mind slumming with the ODST."

"Thank you sir," I politely answered, ignoring the arrogant tone the man used. "You were right." Sarah said on the private comm. "They really _do _hate Spartans."

With that we were off, heading for where the drop pods were. Me and Sarah could hear the insults some of the Helljumpers were mumbling about him. But as always, I chose to disregard them.

We stepped up to two empty HEV pods. We secured our weapons and entered them. The doors to the HEV's closed soon after we entered.

The tracks activated, pulling us into launch position. As soon as we reached said positions, the clamps released and the pods thrusters activated, pushing me into my seat. _I hate this part! _I thought.

Drop pods began falling from the _Autumn's _belly, racing towards the massive ring construct that we had found, the blaring tune of the ODST anthem filling the comms.

"If anything, the ODST knows how to use some good music." Sarah complimented on the COMM. "True." I said. "But would it kill them to listen to some Skillet or Breaking Benjimin?"

Sarah giggled slightly as I leaned my head back, staring out that the construct.

Whatever it was, whether Covenant or not, it was important to aliens. Enough so that they wouldn't risk bringing their full weapons to bear against the _Autumn_ out of fear of hitting it. Hence the boarding action against the ship.

"What do you think that thing is?" Sarah asked on the COMM.

"Whatever it is, we're landing on it." I said. "And I feel sorry for the Covenant for once. Their gonna need a lot more aliens."

_Ryu_

Ryu ducked and missed a Covenant elite swipe it's energy sword, he quickly drew his own sword and sliced the said elite's head off. "There are the last life boats!" Cortana said. "We need to get on them NOW!"

"Me and Corrine will take one, you and Julia take another!" Ryu shouted to the Chief. He nodded and he entered one followed by Julia. While Ryu and Corrine entered the one next to theirs.

"_Now would be a VERY good time to leave!_" Cortana's voice said as the door closed. "_Punch it._" The chief's voice said. Soon after that, their two escape pods blasted out of the autumn. Ryu sighed in releaf. "Well, that was interesting." He said. Corrine chuckled. "Look at that." One of the marines said. Ryu stepped up to the Cockpit of the life pod, and saw their two drop pods decend onto the ring world.

"_Cortana, any idea what that thing is?_" The chief's voice on the radio said. "_From what I've gathered from the Covenant battle net,_" Cortana said. "_They seem to call it 'Halo'_"

"Halo hu?" Corrine said. "Wonder what it is?"

"I don't care if its God's own anti-sonofabitch machine, or a giant hulahoop." Ryu said. "We're not gonna let em have it! But what we _will _let e'm have is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in!" I said.

"Hoora!" The marines in the life pods said.

"You were holding that one in forever, weren't you?" Corrine asked. "Yup." Ryu replied. "Longer than you could think."


	6. Chapter 5: Halo

"Chief? Chief can you hear me?" Cortana's voice echoed in John's head. "Yes, I can hear you." He replied as he regained consciousness. "No need to shout."

"What about Noble 6?" Cortana asked. "I'm fine." The said Spartan said as she too stood up from the Life boat. The chief looked around, and noticed that only they survived the crash. The other marines were killed when the stababilizers broke loose.

But he didn't have time to worry about that. Covenant were probobly already on their way to inspect the crash. He and Noble 6 quickly exited the wreckage. There were supplies lying everywhere, so they took what they could carry. Each picked up a MA37, a M6G pistol, and a couple of Frag grenades. Not much, but it was a start.

"Warning! I've detected multiple on approach." Cortana said. "I recommend moving into those hills. If we're lucky, the'll assume everyone onboard died in the crash."

"Acknowledged." The chief said. "Understood." Julia said.

The two Spartans quickly ran across a metal bridge and reached the other side of the Canyon and into the hills. "Alert! Covenant Drop ship inbound." Cortana said, and sure enough a _spirit _class Covenant drop ship landed nearby, and unloaded a collection of Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and a few Skirmishers. While the Grunts, Jackals, and an Elite minor inspected the wreckage, two other elites and the Five Jackal skirmishers moved across the bridge.

"Should we take them out?" Julia asked the chief. The Chief nodded his response. "Take down the Skirmishers, and then the Elites." Chief said. "M6's don't do much too Elite shields."

"Then you've never used a M6G." Julia said as she drew the said side-arm. She took aim, and fired four shots in quick perfection.

The first two shots landed into an elite's head, disabling it's shield while the last two delivered the killing blow. The Elite fell off the bridge dead.

The Skirmishers started running across the bridge with the other elites, Jackals, and grunts following. John drew his own M6G, and fired quickly at the Skirmishers. Though they were fast, they wernt fast enough to dodge the master chief's almost perfect aim. In a matter of seconds the Skirmishers were dead.

Then the two Spartans heard the screeching of Banshees flying overhead. Julia looked up and saw the said Covenant air support dive down upon them. _Your not the only ones that can fly. _Julia thought as she activated her Jet pack. She flew towards one of the Banshees, it attempted to fire it's Plasma cannons at her, but she evaded them. She then landed on a Banshee, forced the Cockpit open, and ripped the Elite out of it. The elite fell to it's death as Julia took control of the Banshee.

She fired a Fuel rod cannon at the Last Banshee, destroying it quickly. She then dived and finished off the Covenant attacking the chief, witch took little effort since the Covenant were not expecting hostile air support. Though one Grunt got lucky, and hit her Banshee with an Overcharged Plasma round. The Flyer's systems shut down, and Julia quickly jumped out of the Banshee before it crashed into the Canyon. She activated her Jet pack, and landed right next to the chief.

He just stared at her. "When were you going to tell me you had a Jet Pack?" he asked.

"You never asked." She replied. "Come on, let's keep moving."

The chief nodded, but before either of them could move, there was a crackle on their radios. "_Chief? Julia? Jordan? Sarah? Anyone?_" The voice said. "_It's Ryu. Anyone receving me?_"

"This is Spartan 117, too Spartan 118." The chief replied. "We read you."

"_Ah. Chief! Great to hear ya._" Ryu said. "_Is Noble 6 with you?_"

"I'm here as well." Julia said, joining the transmission.

"_Good." _Ryu said. _"Anyways, We crashed our Dropship, and we have 11 Marines here as well. But two of them got wounded in the crash, one has a Broken leg._"

"What's your position?" The chief asked.

"_Well, their a river right next to us, followed by a large Waterfall._" He replied. "_But we're pretty exposed out here, so I think we're gonna have to move. There are a bunch of Mountain passageways around, so we'll move though one of those, see if we can fine a more defendable position._"

"Roger that." Chief said. "We'll try to link up with you."

"_Got it._" Ryu said. "_See ya soon._"

As soon as their conversation ended, they herd the echo of assault rifle rounds being fired. "Must be more Survivors." Julia said. "Come on, let's hurry!"

_Jordan_

Me and Sarah carefully crept up the winding ramp towards the top of the Covenant-controlled bluff that Major Silva and the AI Wellsley had designated Alpha Base as the system's sun rose over the horizon. Atop the bluff in question was number of structures that did not match with known Covenant structures. That being said, there was a sizable Covenant presence on cliff base, Grunts manning Shade turrets, Jackal patrol teams including Skirmishers and the occasional Elite warrior wandering around the structures.

A sizable defense but not one that we couldn't overcome.

Personally, I had wanted to infiltrate the base with Sarah and sabotage the defenses before the main attack. However the Major instead wanted us to be a part of First Lieutenant Melissa McKay's assault team as they launched the first strike against the base. Their target was the base's anti-air defenses. Once they were out, the Pelicans that had made it off the _Autumn_ and rendezvous with us since landing on the ring, would drop in reinforcements to finish off the rest of the Covenant forces.

As we reached the last corner of the ramp, I shot my hand up, stopping the group. Slowly, I peered around the corner, looking up at the end of the last ramp. Two lazy Grunts were sleeping at the entrance rather than guarding the passage.

Through hand signs, I relayed what I saw to McKay and Sarah that I was going to take them out. Silently, I moved up the ramp, drawing my knife. I reached out and grabbed the first Grunt, driving the blade across its throat as I pulled it back. While the dying Grunt rolled down the ramp, I did the same to the other. "That's what you get when you sleep on the job." I said to the dead Grunts.

I then pulled up my M6G Magnum, using its scope to study our surroundings. After a moment, I lowered my sidearm, placing it back on my hip before drawing my assault rifle. "Lieutenant, keep your squad back until back until I tell you to attack," he said to the First Lieutenant. "Me and Sarah will move ahead."

McKay started to protest but we were already gone, moving into the base.

I slowly peered over a half-wall, looking out at the Covenant positions.

At the center of the base was a large square building surrounded by smaller structures of various shapes and sizes with bridges and catwalks connecting between some of them.

According to Wellsley, the Covenant had a total of fourteen turrets set up for air defense. Four were on the roof of the central structure while five were spread out among the roofs of the eastern buildings and five on the western ones. Added to this were heavy weapon Grunts armed with Fuel Rod Guns patrolling along the catwalks.

"Defenses are pretty tough." Sarah said as she peered over the wall too.

"Were Spartans." I said, checking my Assault rifle. "We'll improvise."

"Not that I'm questioning your judgment," Sarah said. "But how are we going to do that?"

I looked at the base again. Looking for any way that could give us an edge…

A plan had poped in my mind. I looked up at a nearby tower that was taller than most of the other structures.

_Shortly after_

A green Grunt Heavy that should have been standing guard on one of the catwalks of the tower was curled up in a ball, sleeping next to its weapon. I reached out, and grabbed its face. Its eyes shot open as I drove my knife into the Grunt's neck. The alien gurgled as it died. I let go of the Grunt and picked up its Fuel Rod Gun. Hefting the weapon up, I took aim at the nearest Shade turret. "Sarah, you ready?" I asked.

"Ready when you are_._" She replied. "Go loud!" I shouted, as I fired the cannon. Five green balls of energy blasted from the Fuel Rod cannon, each hitting one of the Turrets, while Sarah fired her own Rocket Launcher destroying an additional two along with some Jackals that were too close.

The remaining aliens on the ground immediately spun around and started firing their weapons up at the tower we were positioned at.

We dropped to our knees, shielding ourselves from the plasma bolt and needler rounds. However, the Covenant soldiers some of the bridges and structures had a much better angle to shoot at us, forcing us to inch back into the structure. "We got Company!" Sarah said, pointing at An Elite Minor leading a cohort of Grunts and Jackals up the ramps of the tower to our position.

But the ramps were narrow and confined which worked in our favor. "Light e'm up!" I said. "Right!" Sarah replied as she brought her M247H HMG to bear, and started mowing down several of the Grunts as they rounded the last corner to reach them.

But their leader was smart, pulling back the rest. Two Jackals, shoulder to shoulder, their shield linked together as they advanced, protecting the rest of their unit. Sarah continued to fire but was unable to get through the shields.

Two Grunts pulled out plasma grenades and threw them at Sarah, but She dropped to her belly as the grenades sailed over her by inches. They exploded several feet from us on the catwalk, draining a bit of our shields in the process.

I reached for my belt. "Here's a little gift you!" I shouted, rolling a frag grenade down the ramp.

The Jackals and Grunts let out startled gasps and shouts. They panicked and tried to run back, only to bump into those behind them and become tangled up. The grenade exploded, obliterating the lead Jackals and a Grunt behind them. Those standing further away were hit with shrapnel and thrown back from the force of the blast.

Only the bloody Elite Minor rose to its feet after the blast. The Elite roared, firing its Plasma Rifle and a Plasma Pistol that it had picked up. But the combined fire of my rifle and Sarah's machine gun put him down for good.

We reloaded our weapons, waiting as my shield recharged. "Well, that was easier than expected." Sarah said as she slung her Machine gun on her back. I chuckled in agreement. I then activated the Comm.

"Lieutenant McKay, We've taken out the eastern turrets," I said. "You can bring your men in to mop up the remaining infantry."

"_Understood._" McKay said. "_Will you be moving ahead again?_"

"Negative." I said. "We shouldn't get too far ahead of you guys."

"_Understood. Out._"

McKay then turned to her ODST. "You heard the man, let's finish these bastards off."

She and her troopers rose up to their feet, moving away from their hiding spot and into the base. Much of the Covenant forces in base were in complete disarray, frantically searching for the Spartans as the sounds of periodic explosions filled the air. But there were also more than a few Grunts without Elites nearby that were running around in terror or blindly firing their weapons at anything that moved. Plenty of easy targets for the Helljumpers.

"What the hell are you waiting for troopers? An engraved invitation?" Company Sergeant Tink Carter shouted, firing his assault rifle at the nearest aliens.

An orange clad Grunt shrieked just before bullets tore through its body. It collapsed to the ground, joined by half a dozen more of its kind. But the noise had drawn other Covenant warriors to their position. An Elite Major along with some Minors, Jackals and Grunts approached the drop troopers, the bolts of their energy weapons flying.

The ODSTs dove for cover behind Covenant supply crates and around the corners of walls. However, not all of them were fast enough. Private Walker howled as an overcharged Plasma Pistol bolt horribly scorched his face and upper body. Another ODST, let out a gasp as a number of needler rounds were fired at her, and she didn't have any cover to dodge.

Then, in almost a blur, the said ODST disappeared. _What the? _McKay thought, she looked around for the ODST, and found her taking cover next to one of the Spartans. _He moved that fast to save her? _She thought. _I knew they were fast, but wow! _

"Incoming Heavies!" a trooper shouted from behind a supply crate. This snapped McKay from her thoughts as two Grunt Heavies armed with Fuel Rod Guns advanced towards them.

A projectile slammed into a crate, throwing it into the two Helljumpers standing behind it. One of them was knocked clear back while the other became pinned underneath the crate. As a Jackal took aim to kill the stuck Helljumper, suddenly a Spartan took the hit, it's shield barley taking any damage from the Needle Rifle.

The Spartan then fired it's DMR at the Jackal and killed it, and helped the ODST get out from under the Crate. "You ok?" The Spartan, a girl, asked. The ODST said nothing, but nodded his reply.

The Covenant continued to rain their fire upon the soldiers with Needle rounds, Plasma, and Fuel Rods, forcing most of the ODST and the Spartans to remain behind their cover as they warriors pressed forward.

"Take them down!" McKay ordered, another Fuel Rod projectile hitting the ground near her position.

"I got 'em ma'am," one of their snipers replied.

A thundering boom from a SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle filled the air. The head of one of the Heavies exploded, joined a split-second later by its methane tank. Another boom followed and the other Grunt died. "Yeah! Eat lead, gas-suckers!" The sniper shouted.

Without the fire of the heavy weapons, they were able to continue firing on the advancing Covenant warriors. The combined fire of troopers and Spartans tore through a Jackal's shield before hitting it. An Elite Minor was hit in the chest with a sniper round, taking out its shields and allowing two other Helljumpers to finish it off. Four frag grenades flew through the air, landing among the alien soldiers, adding to the body count.

An Elite Major tossed a plasma grenade towards a Helljumper, but then the Female Spartan came around, pushed the ODST away, and took the Plasma grenade.

What first looked like certain death, the Spartan activated the Armor Lock again, and the Grenade detonated, and the Spartan was unscathed.

Soon, only three Elites and few Grunts and Jackals remained. While humans would have withdrawn from the fight and regrouped before suffering such heavy losses, the religious fervor of the Elites prevented them from even considering such an option.

Which ultimately sealed their fate, as the Male Spartan slaughtered them all with lightning quick CQC, and mid-range fire. The battle ended when the Male Spartan smashed an elite's skull with his boot.

"Thanks for the assistance." McKay said, walking over to the Spartans with her own men. The Male Spartan nodded. "It's what we do." He said. "You may want to contact Silva."

McKay nodded before contacting the said commander. "Major, this is McKay. We've taken out the outer turrets, but there are more Covenant here than initially estimated."

"_Understood Lieutenant,"_ Major Silva answered. _"I'll send in the first wave of your reinforcements in low beneath the range of the remaining turrets. But take those turrets out on the double Lieutenant. The Covenant have launched a counterattack against our position."_

McKay nodded her head out of reflex. "Yes sir. We'll take them out ASAP."

_Master Chief_

As John and Julia moved towards the gunfire, the chief's mind was elsewhere.

Usually, being a Spartan, this wouldn't happen in a Combat situation witch this situation was exactly that. But so much has happened in the past few weeks that he couldn't help but think about it all.

First and for-most, was the loss of his other Spartan II's. Sure he felt saddened when any Spartan II was killed, but at Reach…it wasn't just one or two Spartans. It was almost _all _of the other Spartans. Kelly, Fred, Will, all of them dead now. John never really had a family during his time as a Spartan, but the other Spartans were as close to a family he ever had. And to be able to do nothing about it…

The master chief stopped thinking about it, and though of a different topic. Next, was Delta Team. Spartan III's. Why was he never informed of their existence before hand? Did Dr. Halsey know of them? If so, again why did she not tell the others? But that didn't really matter, since they seemed to work just as efficient as any Spartan II would. So it wasn't a major concern to him now.

The last thing he thought about was one Spartan III in particular, Julia.

There was something about her that seemed…Familiar about her. He felt a sense of sadness around her, and it felt like that same sadness that John felt every time he thinks of his Spartans.

He put his thoughts aside when he saw the Canyon open up revealing some alien structures with Marines and Covenant fighting each other. "Let's Go!" Julia shouted as she fired her M6G at mid-range, killing five grunts quickly.

The Chief nodded and also moved forward firing his MA37 at an Elite, disabling it's shields and finishing it off with a quick bash to the head. Julia then ran up to a Jackal, hopped over its shield, grabbed it's neck, and crushed it like a soda can.

After the Covenant were taken care of, the two Spartans walked up to one of the Marines. "Good to see you Chief, Lieutenant. Welcome to the Party." The Marine said.

"Where's your CO, Private?" The chief asked.

"Back there," the marine turned and pointed. "Hey, Sarge!"

The said Sergeant walked up to the two Spartans. Though Julia didn't know him, the Master chief had a run in with Sergeant Johnson during the fall of reach.

"What's your status here, Sergeant?" The Master Chief asked.

"It's a mess." He Growled. "We're Scattered across the Valley. We called for Evac, but until you showed up, we thought we were done for."

"Don't worry." Julia said. "We'll wait until evac arrives."

"I've been in contact with A.I Wellsley." Cortana said. "The Helljumpers are in the process of taking over some Covenant real estate. One of the Pelicans has been dispatched to pick you up. On another note, Spartans D300 and D100 are with the Helljumpers assisting them, so don't worry about them."

"Here comes another Dropship!" A marine Shouted. "Time to bring out the Welcome mat!"

"Ok! Reform the Squad!" Johnson shouted. "Lets get to work!"

Julia and John nodded and moved into cover, drawing their Assault rifles.

As the first Covenant Drop ship landed, a swarm of grunts, Jackals, and a pair of elite Minors jumped out.

The Marines opened up on the Covenant, focusing on taking down the Jackals and Grunts while leaving the elites in the hands of the Spartans. An Elite fired it's Plasma Rifle at Julia, but she dodged and fired her own MA37 at the Alien. Once it's shields went down, she grabbed her knife and tossed it at the elite. The Elite gurgled as the knife hit it's neck and blood poured out. She ran up, and finished the elite off with a burst of MA37 rounds.

The Master Chief had a similar experience with the second Elite. Only ending it with a Plasma Grenade to it's head. After the death of the two elites, the Marines managed to mop up the remaining Jackals, and Grunts.

"_This is Echo 419._" A new voice on the radio said. "_Does anyone read me? Repeat: Any UNSC personel respond._"

"_Roger Echo 419, we read you._" Cortana replied. "_This is Fire team Charlie. Is that you Foehammer?_"

"_Roger that Fire Team Charley,_" Foehammer replied. "_It's good to hear from you!_"

There was a distinct rumbling , and the master chief and Noble 6 turned to identify the source of the noise. In the distance, lifeboats began falling from the sky, trailing smoke and fire as their friction-heated hulls tore through the atmosphere.

"There coming in fast." Cortana said. "Covenant will be all over them if they survive."

"Then we'll get to them first." Julia said, reloading her Assault rifle.

Soon after, The Pelican drop ship came into the Valley. The marines loaded onto the Pelican as it dropped its M12 LRV Warthog. The Chief mounted up into the Drivers Seat, while Julia took the Turret.

"_John, Julia, you there?_" Ryu's voice came in on the radio. "_Where are you?_"

"We just evacuated a few marines." Chief said. "We're moving on via Warthog to get you and any other survivors in the Valley."

"_Good._" Ryu replied. "_Hurry up though, We've got a few Spirits heading our way. We're hiding inside some alien building. Not Covenant made._"

"Roger that." John said. "Hang in there, oh and Jordan and Sarah made it off the ship, there helping some ODST in establishing a base of operations."

_Ryu_

"Got it, thanks. We'll wait here for you." Said Ryu as he cut the transmission. "So what did he say?" Corrine asked as she reassembled her Sniper rifle.

"There on their way." Ryu said. "They just helped a few other survivors, and are moving via warthog."

"Finally some good news." Corrine said. "He say anything about Jordan or Sarah?"

"He said they made it off ship." He said. "There helping some troopers in taking some Covie real estate."

Corrine sighed in releaf. "That's good to hear." She said. Then a marine ran through the door. "Sir, the Covenant Drop ships have landed." He said. "It's only a matter of time till they find us!"

"Calm down, Marine." Ryu said, taking out his Assault rifle. "We'll get out of this. Just keep your eyes on the doors!" The Marine nodded, and soon the Other marines also acknowledged. Ryu and 3 marines stood in front of one Door, Assault rifles raised, while Corrine and another 3 Marines stood guard at the door on the opposite side of the room.

Soon after, a Squad of grunts marched down the hall leading into the room. "LIGHT E"M UP!" Ryu shouted, and he and the Marines unleashed a hailstorm of bullets upon the unexpecting Grunts. Soon the small hallway was littered with torn grunt bodies. But soon Jackals with shield's began coming in.

"Grenade out!" A marine shouted as he toss a Frag grenade into the mess of Jackals. The bird-like aliens panicked, attempted to jump out of the way, but the Grenade detonated killing them.

Next came the Elites, three Minors, and a Major. Again, the Marines opened up, but the Elites were a lot smarter than Grunts or Jackals. Two of the Minors and the Major got back into cover in time, while the last Minor was caught off guard and torn to pieces by the Assault Rifle rounds.

The Elites started firing from the cover of the Corner, taking turns firing back at Ryu and the Marines. Ryu tossed a Grenade over to them, but the Elites dodged the blast and continued firing.

"Shit, these guys are a lot smarter!" Ryu shouted. "Corrine, how are you doing?"

"Same here!" she shouted. "The Elites are firing from cover! Hell, one of them has a Jackal shield on em!"

_Damn! _Ryu though as he fired his rifle again at the Elites. _You better hurry up Chief! _

_Jordan And Sarah. _

The battle to get into the main structure of base had been tough, with dozens upon dozens of defenders and more than a few gun emplacements. But the battle inside the confined spaces of the base had been outright brutal. Close quarter fighting worked in the favor of the Covenant, where they didn't have to rely on accuracy to take down their enemies, just sheer volume of fire. This was especially true with the Elites who were far stronger than humans and formidable close quarter fighters, not to mention equipped with personal energy shields.

Or at least that would have been the case if it wasn't for the Spartans.

Time after time, the two Spartans destroyed the Shade AA turrets, and also saved numerous of her own Helljumber's lives by risking their own. From that Female Spartan pushing one of her men from a Plama grenade detonation, to that other Spartan covering other ODST's with suppressive fire, and taking a few small arms fire from the enemy that the ODST's couldn't handle. Though Silvia may not think it, McKay was thankful as hell these Spartans were here now.

After nearly half an hour of constant fighting, McKay, the Spartans and several of her squads finally made it to the roof and the Shade turrets, firing their weapons at the Covenant forces. In response, the Shade turrets quickly turned from the skies to them, unleashing a hellish barrage of plasma. Several marines and ODSTs were cut down as the rest scrambled for cover.

The four turrets were spaced out in a wide diamond in the center of the roof, surrounded by supply crates and energy barriers. Two of the four Shades were tracking McKay's group while the other two were firing on Sergeant Stacker's team.

"Get some Jackhammers on those turrets!" McKay shouted, firing blindly around a crate.

Three marines armed with rocket launchers rose from their cover, taking aim at the turrets. Two rockets flew while the third soldier was shot and killed. One rocket hit dead on while the other struck an Elite that stood up from behind a fallen crate at the wrong time.

"Come on ladies!" Stacker shouted at his squad. "Quit sitting on your asses and throw some frags at these bastards!"

A trio of grenades flew through the air, landing amid the aliens, one rolling up against the leg of a Shade. They exploded, killing several warriors and throwing the turret into the air before it landed on an unlucky Jackal.

But the grenades did something else, they distracted the rest of the alien soldiers, allowing the two surviving heavy weapon marines to take aim at the remaining turrets. They fired their launchers, destroying the remaining Shades.

With the guns neutralized, the UNSC soldiers pressed the attacked, whittling down the enemy until the last cowering Grunt was shot. The roof cleared, many of the humans let out a cheer at their victory.

However, the cheers were silenced with a single shout of "Spirits!"

Two of the U-shaped Covenant dropships were fast approaching, undoubtedly filled with enemy reinforcements. Their underbelly turrets swiveled, coming to bear against them.

The marines, Helljumpers and the Spartans once more dove for cover as scattered plasma bolts rained down on them. "Get the Jackhammers on them!" McKay ordered.

"Sorry ma'am," one of the marines replied. "We used up our last rockets on the turrets."

"Sarah, what about you?" Jordan shouted to his teammate. "I'm all out of Rockets!" She replied, tossing her useless Launcher away.

"Some get another launcher!" McKay shot back.

The marine rose to his feet, sprinting to a second launcher that was brought up, only to get a plasma bolt in the back as he reached it. "Dammit," the First Lieutenant cursed as the man's body hit the ground.

"Sarah, Grab the Launcher!" Jordan shouted. "I'll cover you!"

Sarah nodded as she sprinted to the Rocket Launcher, and Jordan fired his assault rifle at the Spirit Dropship drawing its fire.

With the Shade Turrent focusing on Jordan, Sarah managed to reach the Rocket Launcher, aimed, and fired two rockets, aimed at one of the Dropships. They slammed into the front of the craft, consuming it in a fireball.

Not even waiting to watch the stricken dropship fall, the Spartan pivoted, aiming at the other Spirit and firing again. The first rocket missed the cockpit, striking the side of the left trooper carrier while the second rocket hit the cockpit. The explosion damaged the Spirit but its pilot managed to maintain control.

Sarah again reloaded the Rocket Launcher, and fired another two shots. The rounds hit the Spirit dead on, finishing off the craft. The Spirit fell, smoke and fire emerging from its cockpit. It slammed into the side of central structure.

The ground beneath their feet shook and trembled as the Spirit impacted. But whatever metal the building had been built with was surprisingly tough, enduring the force of the impact and the explosion that followed a split-second later.

McKay couldn't help but smile while troopers let out a cheer. The Spartans managed to not only to single-handedly dispose of most of the turrets and a fair amount of the Covenant stationed here, but also managed to take out two Spirits. If it wasn't for them, she didn't even want to think about how many marines and Helljumpers could have been killed in the attack.

"Major, this is McKay," she said, opening a channel to her superior. "The last of the turrets have been disposed of, repelled the Covenant counterattack and are just mopping up the last of their forces."

"_Good work Lieutenant,"_ Silva replied. _"The Covenant counterattack has been repelled and we'll begin bringing up the remaining personnel shortly. And we've also managed to get in touch with Cortana and some of the other Spartans. They've been gathering up other teams that made it off the Autumn."_

McKay nodded, looking over at the Spartans. "That's good to hear sir. We'll be preparing for your arrival. Over and out."

She watched as the Spartan reached up and pulled off his helmet, staring out at the horizon. "You did some good work sirs," McKay said as she approached the armored super soldier. "I don't even want to think about how many people could have gotten killed if you hadn't taken out those Spirits."

Jordan and Sarah removed their Helmets, and smiled. "It's what we were trained to do, Lieutenant." He said. "But I shouldn't get all of the Credit. Your men did more than a good job. And it was Sarah here that took down the Spirits, not me."

McKay nodded. "Still, we owe you a lot for the help sir." She said.

"Your Welcome." Jordan replied with a nod. When McKay left, Jordan turned to Sarah. "Now that wasn't bad, now was it?" she said playfully. "I said that Most Helljumpers were hostile Psychos." Jordan replied. "That McKay Is one of the very few exceptions, unlike Major Silva."

_John and Julia_

"THIS IS CRAZY!" Julia shouted as their Warthog crossed the bridge of light. "How is this Physically possible?"

"Don't know, don't really care." John said, though he was equally as curious. Whoever built this had tech far more superior than the Covenant's.

When they finished crossing the bridge of light, Julia let out a sigh of releaf. "Please tell me we'll never do that again." She said.

"Ok, we'll never do that again."

"Thank you."

Their Warthog drove out of the underground tunnel, and back out into the open where they were greeted by the odd sight of the Halo ring streaching out from above them.

So far, they have rescued two other Marine squads that landed near them, all that was left was Ryu and Corrine's group.

Their Warthog sped past a River, where they found an abandoned Life boat. "That must have been theirs." Julia said. "They gotta be close by. Maybe down that path?" she pointed to a pathway that cut through the mountain. "Probably." The chief said, punching the Warthog's engines to the max and sped forward.

Right after reaching the end of the path, they found a large alien structure with Covenant swarming all over it, and the echos of Plasma and rifle fire echoed from the larger building near the end.

Julia opened up with the Warthog's machine gun, mowing down a collection of Grunts and Jackals that had their backs turned.

Julia continued a barrage of fire with the machine gun taking out anything that wasn't human while John hopped out and ran inside the building. He ran through the tunnels, killing a few grunts on the way, and finally made contact with the survivors.

Corrine and some marines were at the opposite side of the room, firing through a door as elites fired from cover. While Ryu was in a sword fight with an Elite major.

Ryu's fight with the Major ended when he stabbed the Alien in the waist, and then sliced It in half. "Good to see you Chief." Ryu said as he holstered the sword and drew his rifle out. "But we're not done yet!"

The chief nodded, and the two Spartans moved to Corrine's position, now going on the offensive charging at the Elites. As the Spartans and Marines charged, The elites were forced to fall back, and run out of the structure…where Julia waited for them with the Warthog machine gun, shredding the aliens to shreds.

"Its about time you guys showed up!" Corrine shouted after making sure all of the Covenant in the area were dead.

"Better late than never." Julia responded as Coratana ordered in the Pelican, and the dropship moved into view.

The five Spartans and the surviving marines hopped into the Pelican. "You did good today Spartans." Cortana said as the Pelican began to take off. "I just reseved a report that Alpha base has been secured. Jordan and Sarah are fine by the way. ETA to Alpha base 30 minutes."

"Aknowlaged." The chief said.

"Good." Ryu said as he streached his arms. "Now if you excuse me…" Soon after he said that, Ryu fell asleep. Soon following were Corrine, Julia, and eventually the master chief.

For today, they have survived.


	7. Chapter 6:Truth and Reconsiliation part1

As I laid back on the bed in my tent, I tried to finally get some shut eyes that didn't involve Cryo. Though it was easier said than done. Funny how the more you use Cryo sleep, the harder it get to get some normal sleep.

Ryu and the others had returned not to long after the base was taken. It was a relief to see the others managed to survive. Not that I really had to worry in the first place, Ryu's not the commander of Delta squad for nothing ya know.

My thoughts then turned to this Ring world, that the Covenant call "Halo". Though I had no idea what it was, I had to admit it was quite a sight. Everything about this place reminds me of Harvest…before the Covenant glassed it of course.

Rivers, oceans, continents, trees, and all of this so beautiful. And the most amazing feature would probably be the ring itself as it arcs over the sky above us. In the sky, you could clearly see the Gas Giant Threshold, and its moon Basis. I was glad my helmet had a built-in recoding device, I've already taken tons of pictures with it of the surrounding area.

I know its not really a good way to use military hardware, to take pictures of sight-seeing, but I can't help it! I love taking pictures of new places.

_Maybe I should be a photographer when the wars over. _I thought as I cleaned my armor. Odd thing was that this was the first time in almost a month I got to get out of my armor. And let me tell you I _really _needed to get it cleaned.

The Armor itself was the Multi-threat variant of the original MJOLNIR Armor. With PARA variant shoulder plating, and an Operator helmet. It was primarily colored sage green, with a red trim along the shoulders, boots, chest, and helmet. Though there was a mixture of alien blood from the numerous Covenant I've killed in the past few hours.

After I was finished cleaning off the blood, I was about to perform a standard maintenance check when a marine stuck his head through the tarp door of my tent. "Sorry to bother you, sir." The Marine said. "But Major Silva would like to see you and the other Spartans on the double. Already sent the message to the others."

I nodded. "I'll be right there." I said as I put my Armor onto Stand-by mode, and buckled my M6G.

As I walked out and headed to the Headquarters, I noticed that the remaining ODST's and Marines were setting up their own tents and housings.

As I neared the Headquarters, I met up with the other on the way. I guess Silva wanted to make sure the Spartans "keep in line". Like I said before, Silva is that person who _hates _Spartans. Sure, most ODST's do, but he takes it to a whole new level.

Two Helljumpers stood guard outside of Silva's door. They favored us the casual hostile look the keep in store for just us Spartans. The tallest of the pair eyed the chief's collar insignia. "Yea, what can I do for you?" he asked us.

"Master Chief SPARTAN 117, reporting to Major Silva." The chief said.

"We're here for the same reason." Ryu said, gesturing to the rest of us.

"Spartan 117?" the smaller of the ODST's said. "what the hell kind of name is that?"

"Look who's talking." McKay said as she approached us from behind. "That's a pretty strange question coming from someone named 'Yutrzenika'."

Both of the Helljumpers chuckled slightly. "Never mind those two." McKay said. "go on in."

"Thanks." Ryu said as we made our way in. Silva was sitting down in a chair salvaged from a UNSC life boat. He looked up from some photos on the desk to see the six of us.

"Sir, Master Chief, Spartan 117 Reporting Sir!" Chief said snapping to a salute, as we followed soon after, stating name, Rank, and our Spartan Number.

Silva leaned back in his chair, he tapped a stylus on his lips, and just staired at the six of us. Usually a CO would have said "at ease" by now, meaning he was probably testing us on our discipline. At least that's what I think.

"So your probably wondering who I am, and what this is all about." Silva said. "That's understandable, especially given your elite status, and the chief's close relationship with Captain keys, and the fact that we now know he has been captured. Loyalty is a fine thing, one of the many virtues for which the military is known, and a quality I admire."

I took my eyes of the Major for just a second to glance at the chief. _What did he mean by that? _I thought.

Silva stood up from his chair and started pasting back and forward. "However, there is a chain of command, which means you report to _me._" He said. "Not Keys, Not Cortana, and not to yourselves."

He stopped pasting, and looked at the Chief square in the eye. "I thought it would be a good idea for you and I too pull a com check. So here's the deal." He said. "I'm short a Captain, so Lieutenant McKay is serving as my Executive officer. If either one of us says 'Crap' then I expect one of you to ask 'What color, how much, and where fo you want it?' you read me?"

The chief clenched his jaw. "Perfectly sir." He said, and the rest of us nodded our agreements.

"Good. Now one more thing." Silva said. "I've read your files, all of yours _including _the parts ONI didn't want me too. I'll admit, you're all damn good soldiers. That said, your all _freaks._ The last remaining subjects in a terribly flawed experiment. And one that should never be repeated."

Right then, Silva was walking on _Very _thin ice in my books. The only thing that was protecting him from one of us snapping his neck for saying that was his rank. I could see Corrine balling her hands into fists. Trying to find some way of self control. And I couldn't really blame her now.

"The whole notion of selecting people at birth, screwing with their minds, and modifying their bodies is wrong." He continued. "First, because the candidates have no choice, second, because the subjects of the program are transformed into human aliens, and third, because the Spartan Program _failed._"

Now, I was doing everything in my power _not _to lash out and rip his arm off. He was wrong about _everything _he just said. First, we were given a choice. Whether or not to be defenseless children who lost everything at Harvest, Jericho, and all those other outer colonies, or be given that chance, that one chance to get some payback. To have revenge. To have the power to stop that from happening again.

Second, we are not alien humans. We are Humans, and no matter of changes to us will alter that fact. Sure, we may have tougher bones than most humans, our hearing is better, and dozens of other features. But we were humans before, and we still are.

Third, the Spartans did _not _fail. Last I heard, Onyx just finished with the training of Gamma company. And were about to be shipped out. 300 additional Spartan III's. I'd say there were more than enough Spartans to say we were an ongoing success.

After Silva said stuff about Charles Darwin, how the Spartans "Died out" and that ODST's would be the one to push the Covenant back, I decided I had about enough. "Sir," I said. "Permission to speak?"

Silva gave me a quick glare, and nodded. "Sir, I fail to find where any of this is relevant to…well anything." I said.

Silva raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"First off, sir." I said. "it was thanks to me and Sarah that we took down the Shade AA guns in the capturing of Alpha base. Sure, I have not doubt in my mind your men could have taken it without our assistance, but It would have come at much larger casualties on our side. Me and Sarah made it our priority to keep _your _men alive to fight future battles on Halo. So it was _Spartans, _your _Failures _you so call them, that saved a large majority of your first wave."

I suppressed a smile forming on my lips as Silva's face turned red angry.

"Furthermore, thanks to the actions of the Chief, Noble 6, Ryu and Corrine," I continued. "That the numerous Marines and Navy men that escaped from the crash of the Autumn that survived their landings, made it back to Alpha base, thanks to the support that the master chief and Julia did _Voluntarily. _They could have easily left on the first Pelican out of there, but they _Both _decided to stay and saved over 50 Marines, and navy men."

Again, I, along with the other Spartan III's and possibly the chief, were resisting the urge to chuckle about Silva's enraged face.

"He has a point, Sir." Ryu said, formally and professionally. "But as he said, your anti-spartan speech of yours has nothing to do with our current predicament. We are stranded on an Alien ring with _Very _limited resources at the moment. While the Covenant have almost infinite resources at the moment. So, as a officer of lower rank of yours who cannot order you to do anything, but I can _Advise _you to stop talking down soldiers that have killed more Covenant than every marine, ODST, and navy man in this camp combined, and stop thinking about that little _incident _on the _Atlas_."

As Silva's eyes Widened at Ryu, I gave him a quick glance. _What are you talking about? _I asked in my head.

"How did you-" Silva said.

"Know?" Ryu finished. "Like you, I read your file before we left Reach. I can understand your anger against us Spartans because of what _one _did to your friends, but remember you _provoked _the Spartan to act, and if I recall correctly from the security footage, it was _you _who threw the first punch. Not the Spartan. Making it a clear act of self defense."

_Well well…_I thought as Silva's face turned blood red with rage. _So _THAT's _what happened?_ I suppressed a grin knowing Silva's predicament she dug herself into.

Even though we were a lower rank, we could easily pull what we called a "Spartan smack down" witch was when a lower ranked officer (Spartans in particular) believed his or her superior is emotionally, or mentally unstable, that we can force him to relive his command, and have an officer that we believe to be more stable to take his or her place. It was one of the protocols that was created in the Spartan Program. And we _loved _using it against people like Silva here when we had too.

Technically, we just black mailed Silva. And it. Felt. GOOD. And there was nothing he could about it that could look good in her image. Not only that, but everyone who was inside the room, and the two odst's outside herd the whole thing.

Silva managed to calm himself down, and his face returned to being moderately pissed off. "you are right, Petty officer." He said. "Thank you for correcting me." He sat back down in his chair. "But back to why I really called you here."

He then went on to brief us on our Upcoming mission. The Covenant had Captain Keys, recon has confirmed it, and we were determined to get him back.

_**Later that day**_

"I still simply _loved _the look on Silva's face when you pulled that out!" Corrine said once the briefing was over and done with.

We were gathered around a small campfire, just us Spartans. The mission wasn't going to start until later that night. So it gave us a little time to relax.

"He was practically asking for it!" I said as I ate some more of my Dinner.

"That he was, Jordan." Ryu said as he polished his sword. "Some people just need to be shown their place sometimes."

"where did you get that Intel on Silva?" Sarah asked.

"Classified." Ryu said with a chuckle. "Usual ONI drill."

"Aww." Corrine said with fake disappointment.

The chief and Julia were also sitting with us, but they were awfully quiet. "Say Chief, what do you think about Silva?" I asked, trying to start a conversation with the Spartan.

John straitened up. "honestly, he's hot-headed." He said. "He's so sure of himself that it's the ODST's that do all of the work, when we Spartans do just as much fighting, if not even more."

"Exactly." Ryu said as he put away his sword. "That's why I hate People like Silva. They see us, all they see are war machines. But we all know we are more than that. We are Humans. Nothing more, nothing less."

Julia nodded, as did the chief. "So Julia," Sarah said. "If its ok, could you tell us how you became a Spartan?"

Julia stiffned, and her face showed some sadness, and regret. "I'm sorry." Sarah said. "if it's a subject you'd rather avoid…"

"No, its fine." She said, nodding her head. "Its…just been a while since anyone's asked me that." She took a deep breath. "Like most Spartan III's," she said. "I was Orphaned because of the Covenant. They glassed my home at the Hydra system. Most, if not all, of my family were either groundside, or their escape shuttle was shot down…" she trailed off for a moment,

"When I was sent to the Orphanage," she continued. "I wouldn't really talk to anyone…I was sort of a loner after what happened… so I rarely spoke to most people there. When the UNSC came around, that's when they gave me the choice. To be an Orphan, or a Spartan. Well its obvious now what my choice was." She smiled slightly.

"Shortly after, I finally started making friends with the Other Spartans. Matthew, our leader, Dexter, the nerd, Robby, the heavy weapons specialist, Christina, our sniper, and Sue, the demolitions expert. We all made up Skull team. We passed any test the eltee gave us, and any form of hell the chief could come up with."

She took a deep breath, "but then…it happened." She said. "it was one of our first missions against the Covenant. I…I don't want to get too deep into details but…only I made it out alive…"

No one said anything for a few seconds. "I…shouldn't have brought it us." Sarah said.

"No, no…" Julia said. "its fine." She then smiled. "It actually feels good to get that off my chest."

I smiled and nodded. "Welp," Ryu said standing up, and grabbing his sword. "its time ladies. Lets mount up!"

_Later_

_Pelican Dropship, on approach to the Truth and Reconciliation. _

I checked up on my gear once again. Two M6G Pistols on my hip holsters with a total of 6 clips of ammo for them, a Grenade Launcher with about 10 Grenades for it on my lower back, a DMR currently in my arms, and slung on my back was a SRS99 14.5mm Sniper rifle. I also had a single Suppressed M7 SMG on my right thigh. We all carried a suppressed weapon of some sort.

Ryu was equipped with his usual assortment. Katana, Assault rifle, DMR, and a Silenced M6G. He also had a Sniper rifle on his back next to his Katana.

Corrine had her personal Sniper rifle already out, with a Suppressed M7 SMG, and Suppressed M9G as well.

Sarah had her usual power house of weaponry. A HMG, Rocket Launcher, MA37, and enough C.12 to make a fireworks show to put new years eve to shame. She also had a Suppressed M6G.

Julia had a reletivley simple set up. MA37, DMR, suppressed M6G, and a few Grenades.

Master Chief also had a simple set up. MA37, sniper rifle, and a M6G.

We along with a handful of ODST's were currently on a Pelican dropship en route to a Covenant CCS-Class assault cruiser called _the truth and Reconciliation._ The mission, as I mention earlier, was to rescue Captain Keys who was being held prisoner in the said ship.

I looked away from the open door of the pelican and turned to face the others. Chief and Julia were sitting in the back, next to Corrine and Ryu. Me and Sarah sat next to each other on the side with a bunch of ODST's.

I ganced up at one ODST in particular. This ODST, A Corporal, was armed with a Grenade Launcher like mine, and a MA37 with a M6G side-arm. She also was wearing her helmet, but I could tell it was a Woman. Her Uniform had the initials S.L on her uniform. She continued looking from between the open pelican doorway, and her own MA37.

"Nervous?" I asked the ODST.

The ODST looked up to face me. "Why would you care?" she said.

"Just asking." I said. "No harm in that, right?"

The ODST's grip on her weapons tightened slightly. "Ya." She said. "I'm nervous. What about it?"

"first mission?" I asked as I put my DMR on my back. "Second, actually." She replied. "But…I didn't really do much at Alpha base…"

I smiled slightly. "You'll do fine." I said. "Everyone get nervous. Your no different than anyone else here."

"Not you." She retorted. "or those other Spartans."

"believe it or not, we get nervous too." I said. "We may be Spartans, but we were Humans long before then, and still are."

"but you seem so calm!" she pointed out. "You don't look nervous in the slightest."

"We try and hide it." I said. "Or we're just use to it. There's nothing wrong about being nervous. Just try to keep calm."

"_we are 5 to drop!_" Foehammer said on the radio. "_Repeat 5 to drop!_"

"Well, here we go." I said as I drew out my Sniper rifle. "Good luck to ya, Corporal."

She nodded as she prepared her own weapons.

"Alright Helljumpers!" Ryu shouted as he stood up. "This is where we show those split-chin squid-heads Sons-of-bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the Human Race! We are going to blow the hell out of those dump lugs until we don't have anything left to shoot e'm with! And then, we are going to strangle them with their own living guts! Am I right Jumpers?"

"Sir yes sir!" The ODST's replied.

"_30 seconds to dirt!_" foehammer said. "_Shoot some of those bastards for me!_"

"will do foehammer!" I replied as I loaded my sniper rifle. The pelican then lowered down to the ground.

"Go! go! go!" One of the seargents yelled as we all piled out of the pelican. Me, the Spartans, and about 10 other ODST's ran from the pelican as it took off. We walked down a pathway until we neared an opening. "Corrine, see what they've got."

"Yes sir." Corrine replied as she dissipeared with active camo. A few minutes later, her voice came in on the radio. "Ok," she said. "I've got three shade turrets, about 10 or more grunts, a few Jackals, and a pair of elites. One minor, and one Major."

"Alright, then." Ryu said. "the shades are priority targets. Elites are secondary. Jordan, you and Corrine snipe the shade turrets, me and chief will take down the elites on my mark."

We winked our agknolegment lights green. I moved next to Corrine with my Active Camo on. I drew my sniper rifle out and aimed at one of the Shade turrets.

"3…2…1…Mark!"

We fired simultaneously. The sniper rounds me and Corrine fired took out the grunts on the first two shade turrets, their methane tanks were also shot off, so they flew around for a few seconds before exploding.

The two elites were about to react when two additional sniper rounds took them out turning their heads into streams of confetti. Corrine dealt with the last shade quickly after.

Sarah then lead Julia and the ODST's forward, wiping out the remaining grunts and jackals with our sniper support. Sarah fired her machine gun like a madwoman at the swarms of grunts while Julia would sneak up behind distracted Jackals and snap their necks while the ODST's supported sarah in taking down the Grunts.

It was over before it even really started. The first of the covenant defenders were practically slaughtered in a matter of minutes.

"Good job, boys and girl." Ryu said as he reloaded his sniper rifle. "but that's just part one." He then gestured to the ledge. It was the only way to the next part of the canyon, but the ledge itself was only about one and a half ft wide. _Good thing I'm not afraid of heights. _I thought.

Ryu lead our team through the ledge, He and the chief taking point, followed by three ODST's, who were followed up by Sarah and Corrine, who were being followed by another three ODST's, and finally me and Julia taking up the rear, followed by the last ODST, who happened to be the Corporal I spoke to earlier.

"this kinda reminds me of a stealth op I went on with Jun." Julia whispered. "We were scouting out some Covenant activity on Reach."

"Really?" I said. "Me and Delta had a similer job in the Hades Gamma system. Only it was to assassinate some Covenant Prophet."

"You killed a Prophet?" Julia asked, interested.

"I didn't, but Corrine did." I replied gesturing to the Sniper herself. "got the bastard straight in the head at over 1,500 yards away."

The Corporal let out a low wistle. "Damn," she said. "Not even my old squad mate could shoowaAAHH!"

I looked back and saw that the ledge had begun to collapse right under the Corporal. I reacted on instinct and grabbed the Corporal's Arm before she fell down into the seemingly bottomless canyon floor.

I could only imagine the ODST's face at the shock of looking down there. She then looked up to see me as I pulled her up. "You alright?" I asked when I brought her up.

"Y-ya." She said, she was shaking slightly. "T-thanks."

"Don't mention it." I said. "Come on, lets keep moving."

_**Covenant Flagship of the fleet of particular justice**_

"_There were Demons aboard the human vessel, are you sure?"_ Thel 'Vadamee, Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Particular Justice asked.

"Yes Supreme Commander. My team encountered two of them."

"_And yet you let them escape,"_ Soha 'Rolamee arrogantly commented. _"Worse than that, you fled from them."_

Special Operations Warrior Zuka 'Zamamee bit back a snarl at the bureaucrat's words. The sole reason that 'Rolamee was even a part of this conversation was because that Prophet that was traveling with the Fleet had sent him in his stead. He knew nothing about warfare and strategy. Yes, his team failed to kill the Demons and he did indeed flee after his team was killed and he was injured. Not, however, for his survival but so that he could bring word to the Commanders of the Fleet that there were Demons with the humans.

"Prefect, given the chance I would have gladly given my life to slay the Demons," Zuka replied. "But I knew it was vital that word of their presence reach your ears."

The Supreme Commander nodded in agreement. _"And you are right. On countless campaigns, the Demons have inflicted grave damage to our forces. A single Demon could slay hundreds, perhaps thousands of warriors,"_ he said. _"And if you are correct, there are at least six of them. They are not to be underestimated."_

Zuka agreed wholeheartedly, his bandaged left eye socket aching. He had seen firsthand what they could do. The Demons were truly deserving of their names.

"_So you say Supreme Commander,"_ the Prefect said. _"But I cannot help but wonder if these 'Demons' are truly that formidable or if it is just incompetence and cowardice of those facing them."_

The black armored Sangheili warrior tensed, anger filling his veins. How dare that spineless bureaucrat call him a coward and the Supreme Commander incompetent! Had the Prefect been there in person instead of by hologram, he would have challenged him to an Honor Duel right then and there, rank be damned. But 'Rolamee was elsewhere, aboard the damaged Battlecruiser _Truth and Reconciliation_ stationed upon Halo itself as they made repairs.

Zuka turned to Supreme Commander 'Vadamee's projection. "Supreme Commander, I wish to lead a team to hunt down and slay the Demons."

'Rolamee let out a laugh. _"A team led by a one eyed coward? Who in their right mind would allow such a thing?"_

But 'Vadamee's eyes were solely upon Zuka. _"Very well," _the officer answered after a moment. _"I will allow you to form a team to hunt these Demons."_

"_Supreme Commander! This is outrageous!" _the Prefect started to protest.

"_However,"_ 'Vadamee continued. _"I will not waste the lives of good Sangheili on a futile battle. You are to hunt and track the Demons to fully confirm their existence. If you do find them, you will not engage them until I say otherwise. I trust you will not have any problems with this."_

Zuka shook his head. Truthfully, he wanted to slay the Demons, especially the one that had punched his eye out, but his loyalty to 'Vadamee was far greater than his need for vengeance. He would obey the Supreme Commander's orders without question. "No Supreme Commander," he said, reaching up for the bandages on his eye, tearing it off. Zuka looked up at his superior with one eye and one empty socket. "I do not have a problem with your orders as it doesn't remain just observing them."

"_It won't."_

_**Truth and reconciliation strike force**_

We slowly approached the Grav lift to the _truth and Reconciliation._ In the path we took there, only two of the ODST's got wounded. But it was nothing to serious.

Corrine moved ahead with her Active camo on to scout the area around the lift. "_Just as we thought._" She said on the radio. "_gravity lift is heavily guarded. I can make out quite a few Elites patrolling the area, along with Jackals, Grunts, and I can see four Shade turrets._"

Ryu nodded. "We can expect once we start raining hell here the'll send reenforcements down the lift." He said. "Alright, same deal as before. Shades are primary targets, Elites and secondary. If you got a sniper rifle, aim for the turrets first, then the elites. ODST's, move in once we open fire."

The Spartans gave their acknowlagment lights a wink, and the ODST's nodded their reply. Once again, Me, and Ryu activated our active camo and moved into separate sniper positions. We aimed at different Shade turrets, and fired.

Four of the five turrets were taken out of commission. And the 5th was soon taken out by Corrine's next shot. Julia then deactivated her Camo and assassinated an Elite Major from behind.

Sarah then lead the ODST's in, firing a barrage of rounds from their weapons. Tearing apart two squads of grunts. A fire team of Jackals advanced against Sarah and the ODST's with their shields drawn, and firing their Needlers and Plasma pistols. However they were dealt with quicky as the Corporal used her Grenade Launcher and killed all the Jackals in one shot. "Oh there gonna have to glue you back together!" She said. "IN HELL!"

I chuckled at her remark as I sniped an elite minor's head right off. _I can just tell Sarah's gonna get along great with her. _I thought.

I watched as three elites ran up towards Ryu. I was going to help him out, but…he didn't need the help.

Ryu drew his sword out, and tossed it at the first elite, impailing it right in the chest. He then ducked as one slashed a Energy sword, rolled on the ground and drew out his wrist-knives. The second elite charged forward, only for Ryu to side-step, and stab it in the neck and the back of its skull.

He then ducked and missed the last elite's swipe as he fully detached one of his knives as he kicked the elites feet, knocking it off balance, and finished it off by stabbing it in the neck.

"Damn I'm good." I could hear Ryu wispper to himself, not knowing it was on open comm.

"Uh, guys!" Corrine said on the radio. "Problem! Look at what's coming down!"

I looked at the grav lift, and I felt my heart sink. Dropping down, along with 4 Elites, and a collection of grunts and Jackals, were a pair Hunters.

"_Damnit I knew this was going to easily._" Ryu said. "_Someone take those things out!_"

"_On it!_" Sarah replied. She put away her HMG, and took out her rocket launcher. The hunters began to charge. "Helljumpers get out of the way!" Sarah shouted as she readied her launcher.

The ODST's nodded and scattered so the Hunters couldn't get them in one shot. "Eat this!" Sarah shouted as she fired her Rocket Launcher. The First Rocket blasted out of the launcher, but the Hunter saw it coming and managed to jump out of the way. "Damnit!" Sarah shouted as the Rocket launcher reloaded.

The first hunter fired its fuel rod cannon, and Sarah activated her Armor Lock to save herself. That was when the Corporal from earlier then snuck around the hunters who were entirely focused on Sarah, and fired her Grenade Launcher at one of them from behind.

The explosives landed on the spot into the Hunters exposed orange flesh, the alien juggernaut fell down dead.

But the other Hunter was very much alive, and out for vengeance against his brother's killer.

As the second Hunter aimed to kill the Corporal, Sarah finished reloading her rocket launcher, and fired away. Two rockets streaked from the launcher and hit the hunter dead on, tearing it to pieces.

"Down they go!" An ODST cheered.

"And they say those thing are tough!" Another one said.

I chuckled slightly at their cheers as I walked up to Sarah and the others as we gathered just outside the Gravlift.

"That was a nice shot, Corporal." Sarah said to the ODST. "You sure your not a Spartan?"

The ODST chuckled. "I just like it when stuff blows up." she said. "That's why I'm a Demo expert."

Sarah nodded her head. "You remind me of a friend of mine." She said. "But enough of that. Right now, we got a ship to board."

"That's right!" Ryu said as he lead us into the Grav lift. At first when we were on the platform, nothing happened…then suddenly we started to rise up. "Whoa!" A ODST said.

"This is interesting." Corrine said calmly.

"Alright ladies!" Ryu shouted as he drew his sword out. "Its go time!"


End file.
